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Title
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Captain Brooks and his gallant crew
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Singer
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Harvey, Henry [Wassail]
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Notes
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Note 1
Williams, Alfred: Ms / WGS: It will be seen that our version is more nearly in line with the folk ballad. I obtained the piece of Edward Roberts, Siddington, Gloucestershire, and he learnt it of an old sailor, who took part in the bombardment of Alexandria.'
Note 2
In his article in the Random Papers series, Folk song and locality, Wiltshire Times 28 August 1926 p 9, Williams writes, 'Exactly the same might be said of other pieces. For instance: at the time the war broke out in 1914, and afterwards till their death, aged men of the Thames side complacently sang songs celebrating the Duke of Marlborough’s campaign in the Netherlands and High Germany [1702 – 1704], and others dealing with the American War of Independence and battles with the French towards the end of the Eighteenth Century. Near Oxford I found one singing “Rodney so bold”, the British admiral who defeated the French off St. Lucia, 1782; while at Cricklade another sang of valiant Captain Brooks, and the fight between the Chesapeake and the Shannon off Boston twenty years earlier.'
In the series Folk Songs of the Upper Thames in the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 1st January, 1916, p 2, Part 12, No. 6, Williams says this, 'An old sea song, descriptive of a fight between the British frigate ‘Shannon’ and the American frigate ‘Chesapeake’ at the time of the American War of Independence [actually the War of 1812 – CDW]. The incident also gave rise to another song, one verse and the chorus of which I give below.'
By combining the two newspaper articles, the text of the song, unattributed in the note above is at least given a place of collection. Given that his main source in Cricklade was Henry 'Wassail' Harvey. In his article on the Wiltshire Wassail, Wiltshire Gazette 2 December, 1926 p 3, Williams wrote: 'The old man, who was ninety years old at the time I knew him, as well as being a wassailer – he was now to the locality as ‘Wassail’ Harvey – was a rare singer of folk songs. In my collection of Upper Thames Folk Songs, there were many good pieces of his rendering; he knew several hundreds of folk songs, besides a large mass of folklore.
On this basis I have attributed this song to Harvey.
Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge, 2012.
