The image of ragged sailors singing sea shanties as waves crash onto the deck is inseparable from our view of sailing. In this fun podcast Martin Jakeman discusses the history and function of this Royal Navy tradition.
Today, most people can hum along to the tune of “Drunken Sailor,” but the grim origins behind the lyrics are often overlooked. In this episode Martin Jakeman from Historical Huzzahs reveals the truth.
You will also discover how the shanties kept morale high at sea, how they changed with the invention of steam ships, and how the tradition is kept alive. You may be surprised by the latter!
Martin Jakeman
In 2018, a year after graduating the University of Winchester, Martin started his job at the National Museum of the Royal Navy. It was here that his love for heritage and performance really began to flourish. At the beginning of 2019, with mentoring from the Theatre Royal Winchester (TRW) and Hat Fair, he founded his theatre company Historical Huzzahs. Since then he has co-created Home Fires with the staff and volunteers at TRW and with backing from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Further Information & a Call to Action!
For more information on Royal Navy history and traditions we recommend visiting the Royal Naval National Museum website. Here you will find historical projects, and details of the individual museums of which many can be found in Hampshire. You can search the archives and collections online, and even adopt a naval object!
And if you enjoyed this podcast as much as Ellie and Martin did recording it, why not visit Martin Jakeman’s sea shanties on Facebook. Next week we will be joined again by martin in a special long episode, but if you cannot wait until then why not discover more today about Historical Huzzahs on their Official Website.