Barrett's Privateers
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Barrett's Privateers is a folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers. Although Barrett, the Antelope and other specific instances mentioned in the song are fictional, Barrett's Privateers is full of many authentic details of privateering in the late 1700's. The song was released in the album Fogarty's Cove in 1976.
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[edit] Plot
Barrett's Privateers is sung from the point of view of a young fisherman who enlisted on Elcid Barrett's ill-fated Antelope. The Antelope is described as the "scummiest vessel [he'd] ever seen", and the song describes the many faults of the decrepit sloop. It is unknown whether Stan Rogers was referring to a sloop-rig, which is a vessel with a single mast which also can set a jib, or to a sloop of war, which could either be Brigs or ship rigged vessels which were too small to be Frigates.
After describing the initial voyage to Jamaica seeking American merchantmen and the problems with the Antelope, the unnamed narrator sings about how they finally found one, loaded down with gold. Unfortunately, the Antelope's main-mast is knocked down with one volley from the American vessel, and Barrett is killed.
The remainder of the song (and the chorus) conveys the narrator's disillusionment with privateering, and how at the age of 22 he's a "broken man on a Halifax pier", having lost both his legs, "the last of Barrett's privateers".
[edit] Historical authenticity
From the very opening line of the song, Rogers paints a very plausible and largely authentic image of a privateering vessel. He dates the tale as taking place in 1778, at the height of the American Revolution, when privateering was a common activity, particularly based out of Nova Scotia on the British side. Rogers' choice of names, nautical terminology, and details of weapons and places all accurately reflect historical fact, with some exaggeration on the loss of life.
[edit] The Antelope
"The Antelope" is described in the song as a sloop, with a total of 20 crew, all of whom were formerly fishermen. She is armed with a cracked four-pounder cannon. However, the Antelope has many faults; she lists to port, and constant pumping is needed to keep her from gaining water. The Antelope's sails are described as being "in rags", likely the result of poor upkeep.
Many vessels of the time period bore the name "Antelope", including several HMS Antelopes in the British Royal Navy. As the name of a somewhat exotic animal, the name conveyed a sense of the vessel's speed, although in this case it's an ironic moniker.
Sloops were often used by privateers, good for short range assaults. Their range was extremely limited by their small size, although even a small sloop normally warranted a crew of at least thirty, so that there might be enough men to crew a captured prize. Given the Antelope's state of repair, the smaller crew could be taken to mean that it was difficult to recruit for such an obviously unreliable vessel. Indeed, the narrator refers to how he wishes he was in Sherbrooke, which could refer to another vessel (see debate as to the precise meaning of "Sherbrooke" below).
The precise afflictions of the Antelope – listing to port, ragged sails, constant leaks, and an evidently incompetent crew – are all likely problems. Many ships damaged in storms, or barely-seaworthy to begin with, had constant rotations of crewmen pumping out water. While stored, sails could be damaged by rats or insects. Without good maintenance, they might also become eroded in the normal course of use. The cook is described as being drunk; this was an all too common condition for undisciplined or inexperienced sailors. Additionally, the listing to port could also have been caused by poor ballasting by the crew.
The Antelope is armed with "cracked four-pounders", and despite the poor condition of these guns, four-pounders were actually quite common privateer weapons. As smaller weapons, they allowed the privateer great speed, although it also meant that they lacked range. Given the poor armament of most merchantmen, a skilled captain could use them very effectively.
The nature of privateer warfare precluded bloody battles as the aim was to captured an undamaged merchant ship. No privateer from Nova Scotia ever suffered such losses in battle although some were lost with all hands in shipwrecks.
[edit] Debate
A number of the terms used in Barrett's Privateers have multiple meanings, leading to debate on what precisely Rogers intended them to be meant as.
[edit] Sherbrooke
The disillusioned narrator repeatedly makes reference to a Sherbrooke ("How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now. . ."). Several candidates have been suggested- the settlements of Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia or Sherbrooke, Quebec, as well as a more successful privateer vessel, the Sir John Sherbrooke. Each possibility has several problems. Neither settlement, both named after Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, had yet been established in 1778, the year to which the song refers. However, although there were at least three privateering vessels named Sherbrooke that participated in the War of 1812, it is unknown if any fought in the American Revolution.
[edit] Main truck
Barrett's Privateers also makes reference to the "main truck", which destroyed the narrator's legs. Some people believe that Rogers was referring to the cannon housing on one of the Antelope's four-pounders, but in fact the maintruck was a circular platform high up the mainmast, used as a vantage point, more popularly known as the crow's nest. Foretruck was on the foremast, mizzentruck on the mizzenmast, and so on. A sloop has only one mast, so the only crow's nest would be the maintruck. The song says, "...with one fat ball the Yank stove us in," which (we might speculate) brought down the mainmast as well, so that the edge of the maintruck caught our narrator's legs and sheared them off.
[edit] Use in popular culture
- In the Due South episode Mounty on the Bounty, Fraser sings Barrett's Privateers during dinner on board the Henry Allen. By the last verse, the crew is so caught up in the song that "Ray" Kowalski is able to slip away to inspect the suspect's cabin.
[edit] References
- Is the Stan Rogers song "Barrett's Privateers" true? Dan Conlin, 1997 A detailed line by line examination of the song and its historical context.
