Nelson & His World

I recently came across a book of folk songs which had a number of shanties/songs about sailors. This one, about Admiral Cole and the Benjamin was included. The narrative is rather thin, so there is no clue as to what misfortune befell the Benjamin - though she clearly didn't sink, since 61 men returned. Can anyone supply any historical detail about the admiral and the ship?


BOLD BENJAMIN

Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea, oh, my boys, oh!
Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea, oh!
Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea,
Along of our ship's company,
On board the bold Benjamin, oh!

We sailed our course away for Spain, oh, my boys, oh!
We sailed our course away for Spain, oh!
We sailed our course away for Spain,
Our silver and gold for to gain,
On board the bold Benjamin, oh!

We sailed out five hundred men, oh, my boys, oh!
We sailed out five hundred men, oh!
We sailed out five hundred men,
And brought back but sixty-one.
They were lost in bold Benjamin, oh!

And when we came to Blackwall, oh, my boys, oh!
And when we came to Blackwall, oh!
And when we came to Blackwall,
Our captain so loudly did call:'
Here comes the bold Benjamin, oh!'

Here's the mothers crying for their sons, oh, my boys, oh!
Here's the mothers crying for their sons, oh!
Here's the mothers crying for their sons,
And the widows for their husbands
That were lost in bold Benjamin, oh!

Hello Anna,

Roy Palmer in his Boxing the Compass: Sea Songs and Shanties mentions this song on pages 58 to 61. His version has:

Captain Chilver's gone to sea,
Hey boys, O, boys etc etc.

The end of the first verse is 'In the brave Benjamin, O

There are at least a dozen more verses. Roy Palmer says that in 1680 a soldier's ballad was written, starting 'Captain Hume's gone to sea'. This one, known as the Benjamin Lamentation, is a naval version and was printed some time between 1681 and 1684. It was about the loss of the Benjamin in a storm at Plymouth, but no naval vessel known as the Benjamin was known at that time.

Another book, Shanties and Sailors' Songs by Stan Hugill also mentions this song, on p.11, saying it was from the reign of Charles II, but he cites it as 'Captain Chivers gone to sea', though with the same title of the Benjamin Lamentation. Hugill's source is C H Firth Naval Songs and Ballads 1908, Navy Records Society, but I haven't yet checked this.

Your version seems to have acquired an Admiral Cole, so this doesn't help greatly!

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Hi Anna,

I came across this about the poem:

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~z ... amino.html

It would seem there is not much known about it. However it would seem from the poem, verses 3 and 5, that the Benjamin was indeed lost and that the 61 survivors came home in another ship. If the Benjamin were a warship, under 'Admiral' Cole, it sounds as though the reason for the voyage was to obtain silver and gold. I wonder if this was at a time when coin was running low in England, and so it was decided to 'purloin' it from the Spanish.

In passing it also sounds like they came home in a merchant ship, or else why would they land at Blackwall on the Thames, which was the 'home port' of the Indiamen? From the structure of the verses though, it also seems as though it might have been a working shanty, which makes me think even more that it is not naval, i.e. the Benjamin was a merchant vessel. The term 'admiral' may also have a different meaning here, since in some enterprises the person in charge of was termed the 'admiral' even though it might not have anything to do with the navy.

There was a Benjamin in the Blue Squadron of Monck and Deane’s fleet against the Dutch in an action off the Gabbard, Essex, 2nd to 3rd June 1653 -- So says my “The Royal Navy Day by Day”.
A question: would a merchant ship carry 500 men

Ed,

I would agree, 500 for a merchant ship does sound rather a lot, but my post was being speculative!

This is only a gut feeling. But I doubt that even the larger merchant ships would have crews of much more than 100 men.

As we know the Royal Navy ships were manned to fire the guns - and were hugely overmanned for simply sailing the ships.

Would be interesting to get some actual statistics on this.

MB

In The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, your version, Anna, is given, but in the notes on p.111, it says:

The singer learned this song from a man-o-war's man in the 1850s. We know no details of the unlucky expedition it celebrates. The song is a latter-day re-make of a black-letter ballad published c.1670, called The Benjamin's Lamentation for their Sad Loss at sea etc, beginning 'Captain Chilver's gone to sea, I, boys, O boys!'

The singer was a Mr Taunton from Corscombe in Dorset. The notes then go on to quote from the CH Firth volume I mentioned above, published by the Navy Records Society in 1908. Firth's version is the Chilvers one mentioning Plymouth Sound, not Blackwall.

The number of men lost shows that this was a naval vessel, not merchant, as you've all been saying.

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Thanks for that Lesley. It made me get my 1961 edition down from the shelf and open it for the first time in maybe 40 years!! And thanks for the link.

Thanks, all, for these illuminating comments. A little Googling turned up this discussion about the Bold Benjamin on a folk song site. It does appear that there were numerous versions, including one which had a hundred men aboard and four lost. This tendency to adapt and vary the content is characteristic of so many folk songs. Losses at sea would have been common so it is not surprising that well-known songs expressing sorrow over a loss at sea were adapted to fit differing circumstances.

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23468