118. High Barbary
This ballad is described by Frank Shay, Iron Men and Wooden Ships, as "an old sea ballad that survives in the home song books." Masefield in his Sailor's Garland 293-4 gives a form of it, 'The Salcombe Seaman's Flaunt to the Proud Pirate' — clearly the same song, though widely different in text from our ballad. Whall's Sea Songs and Shanties 78-9 has it in the version known in North Carolina. It has not often come into the folksong collector's net: Sharp reported it from Somerset JFSS v 262, Barry lists it in his syllabus but so far as I know never printed it, Chappell, FSRA 50-1, gives a version from North Carolina, and Morris, FSF 53-4, two from Florida. There is some variation in the names of the ships. No ship is named in Masefield's text; in the other texts the second ship is consistently the Prince of Wales, but the first-named is the Princess Charlotte in the Somerset text, the Prince of Luther in Shay's and Whall's texts, in one of Morris's, and in a fragment from North Carolina, the Queen of Russia in the Tillett version both as reported by Chappell and as secured by P. D. Midgett, Jr., for the Brown Collection. Since the latter text is the same as that given in FSRA, it is not repeated here; but a fragment of three stanzas, also from Mr. Tillett of Wanchese, as it is slighdy different, is here appended.
'High Barbary.' From Charles Tillett of Wanchese, Roanoke Island.
1 There were two lofty ships from old England came,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we
One was the Prince of Luther and the other the Prince of Wales,
Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbary.
2 'Aloft there, aloft!' our jolly boatswain cries.
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we
'Look ahead, look astern, look aweather and alee,
Look along down the coast of the High Barbary.'
3 'Oh, hail her, oh, hail her,' our gallant captain cried.
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we
'Are you a man of war or a privateer?' said he,
'Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbary ?'
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118. High Barbary
'High Barbary.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island; no date given.
For melodic relationship cf. *FSF 53-4, No. 21, measures 4-5 with our 7-10; FSCSG 24-6, measures 9-10.
Scale: Hexatonic (6), plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abccdee1b1ff1 (2,2,1,1,2,1,1,2,2,2) = abcb1 (2,4,4,6). The structure is noteworthy: a is terminally, and b internally incremented. The last four measures are a free sequence.