"Barrett's Privateers" is a folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario. 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 18th century. The song was released on the album Fogarty's Cove in 1976 and has since gained popularity as a drinking song, with cover versions by many bands. The song makes use of mixed meter, regularly switching back and forth from 4/4 to 5/4 time, which is unusual for a sea shanty, as they are traditionally sung in a strict, unchanging meter. It is regarded as one of the Canadian Navy's unofficial anthems.
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"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.[1]
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 he's a "broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barrett's privateers". The last two stanzas reveal that he is only "in (his) twenty-third year", and lost both his legs in the battle six years earlier.
From the very opening line of the song, Rogers paints a plausible and mostly authentic image of a privateering vessel. He sets the tale in 1778, at the height of the American Revolution, when privateering was a common activity on both sides of the war. 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. The song mentions Halifax, Nova Scotia which is also historically accurate, as Halifax was a well-known port for privateers operating on the East Coast out of Nova Scotia at that time.
The song does contain a number of historical inconsistencies, including the refrain of "I wish I was in Sherbrooke now". The longing of the narrator for Sherbrooke conflicts with the date of 1778, as the town of Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia was not founded until 1815.[2] This may reflect Stan Rogers' artistic license in tribute to his family origins near Sherbrooke on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. Others believe that the line refers to the privateer brig Sir John Sherbrooke, one of the largest and most formidable privateers based in Nova Scotia. However, like the town of Sherbrooke, the Sir John Sherbrooke significantly postdates the American Revolution, having been built in 1813.[3]
The song exaggerates the violence of privateering, since the nature of privateer warfare precluded bloody battles, as the aim was to capture an undamaged merchant ship. No privateer from Nova Scotia ever sank in battle or suffered such bloody losses in battle, although some such as the privateer Rolla were lost with all hands in shipwrecks.[4] American Privateers, however, did meet with disastrous fates off Nova Scotia at the hands of the Royal Navy (see story of Young Teazer as well as the Naval battle off Halifax).
"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 several "cracked" four-pounder cannons. The Antelope has many other 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 in the British Royal Navy named HMS Antelope. As the name of a somewhat exotic animal, the name conveyed a sense of the vessel's speed, although in this case it is 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.
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", 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 assumed authenticity is often so great that other performers have either been confused by it or played off it to fool unsuspecting audiences. In one of their recorded performances of the song, famed Scottish folk singers The Corries state during a preamble that the song is in fact from the 18th century. However they also claim that it is the story of a Scottish exile, changing the line "I wish I was in Sherbrooke now" to "I wish I was in Edinburgh now" even though no such references appear in the lyrics, and that the Antelope's captain was "Cid Barrett" not the correct "Elcid".
The popularity of "Barrett's Privateers" has inspired cover versions by many bands, such as the metal band Alestorm on their third album, Back Through Time. This cover also features a guitar solo by Heri Joensen from Týr. The Australian band, Weddings Parties Anything and the folk group, Schooner Fare, also covered this song.
Ian Robb wrote a well-known parody of the song, "Garnet's Home-made Beer," which features Stan Rogers' brother Garnet Rogers and a misbegotten batch of homebrew. It appears on Robb's From Different Angels album.
The song was also parodied in the webcomic Bruno the Bandit[5].
In the Due South episode Mountie 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.