American Ship- Clarke (RI) 1945 Flanders X
[Below are Coffin's introductory notes from Flanders' Ancient Ballads. This ballad covers over 80 pages, the most extensive collection published.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Sweet Trinity or the Golden Vanity
(Child 286)
This ballad is immensely popular in America and not hard to find in Britain. It dates back to a broadside of the 1680's in which the deceitful captain is Sir Walter Raleigh. (See Flanders FF.) Since then it has taken many forms and may conclude in any number of ways. The Flanders texts give an excellent cross section of the plot variations found in this ballad. In A-T the boy drowns in the lowlands low. In U, he sinks the captain's ship as well as that of the enemy before he drowns. In V, he also sinks the captain's ship and there is only one survivor to tell the tale. In W, he sinks the captain's ship, ironically drowning the girl he loved with the crew. In X, he dies after being hauled on deck. In EE his ghost returns to treat the captain to a glass of beer before sinking the boat. In FF-JJ, the heroic lad is rewarded with a leave of absence, the daughter's hand, or gold and silver. Of these texts, A1, with the stanzas on the phantom ship, and R, with the lines borrowed from "The Mermaid" (Child 289) are noteworthy. So are V, with its one survivor, like Melville's Ishmael; and FF, which preserves the name of Raleigh, if not the ending, from Child A" The vessel's name, originally The Sweet Trinity, varies greatly in America, becoming The Golden Vanity, The Green Willow Tree, The Merry Golden Tree, and so on. Its opponent, sunk by the cabin boy, was "a false galley" in the old broadside, but it is more likely a Turkish (or Russian, Irish, French, etc.) Revelee or "Shavaree" (sloop) in the States.
There is a certain preposterous quality to this song, and college students and music hall writers have exploited this fact in a series of parodies. see Coffin, 155, for references. Perhaps for the same reason, it has been extremely popular with sailors.
A long bibliography for "The Sweet Trinity" is easy to come by. See coffin, 153-5 (American); Dean-Smith, 69; Belden, 97 (English); Greig and Keith, 228-9, and Ord, 450-1 (Scottish). Phillips Barry, British Ballad's from Maine, 339-47, includes and discusses it. There is a song, once in a while confused with "The Sweet Trinity," called "The Low-lands Low." while it has a similar burden, it tells a very different story and goes back to an English stall ballad, "Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low" (Laws M 34), that was well known here and in Britain, see Laws, ABBB, 197-8; Belden, 127; and Dean-smith, 118, for some references to it.
The tunes for Child 286 can be divided into six groups which, however, may turn out to be related at least to some extent. The groupings are as follows: (1) Davis, Edwards, Moses, Burditt, and possibly Pease; (2) George, Daniels, Houghton; (3) Henry, Blake, George, Barry; (4) Clarke, Cassidy, Richards, Dragon; (5) Ingalls; and (6) Fish and Percival. The Ingalls runs seems to be a version of the popular "Canada-I-O." In order to save repetition, the tune relationships for standard collections are given here. Only relatively close tunes have been selected. from the large number available. In spite of their profusion, however, there is a lack of analogues for groups (2) and (6). For group (3), see Sharp I, 282-285, 2B9 I; FCB 4, 120, 47 A, 121 A (I), 123 C (I) ; BES, 346, ROI, 195, 200 (D); BI, 160. For group (3), especially the Blake rune, see BES, 34b (distant). For group (4) see Sharp l, 287, 288 G; GCM, 214; ROI, 200.
X. "American Ship" Sent by Albert R. ClarkÂ, R.F.D., Perryville, Rhode Island, February 12, 1945 and later recorded, April 5, 1945. H. H. F., Collector; February 12, 1945 Footnote: Mr. Clarke was recorded, he made slight changes in lines 3 and 4, for example, he used "sanken," instead - none of the changes were of any significance. Structure: A B A C D (2,2,2,2,2); Rhythm D but divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale: major; t.c. C.
American Ship
There was a gallant ship of North America [1]
Which went by the name of "The Golden Vanity."
She was liable to be taken by the British Turkilee
And be sunken in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
And be sunken in the low lands low.
The first that came on deck was a little cabin boy,
Cried, "Captain, what will you give me if that ship I will destroy?"
"Gold I will give you, and my daughter for your bride,
If you will sink her in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
If you sink her in the low lands low."
The boy, he grasped an auger and overboard he sprang.
The boy, he bent his breast [2] and out to sea he swam.
He swam to the side of the British Turkilee,
For to sink her in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
For to sink her in the low lands low.
Three holes he bored once; three holes he bored twice,
white some were playing cards and others shaking dice.
While some were playing cards, the waters they gushed in,
And he sank her in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
And he sank her in the low lands low.
The boy he bent his breast and back again he swam,
He swam to the side of "The Golden Vanity,"
Cried, "Captain, pick me up, I'm going with the tide;
I'm sinking in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
I'm sinking in the low lands low."
"For to pick you up, Oh, that I never will!
I'll shoot you; I'll kill You; I'll do it with a will.
Gold I'll never give you, nor my daughter for your bride,
But I'll bury you in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
I'll bury you in the low lands low.
The boy he bent his breast. On t'other side he swam,
He swam to the side of "The Golden Vanity,"
Cried, "shipmates, pick me up, I'm going with the tide.
I'm a-sinking in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
I'm sinking in the low lands low."
The shipmates picked him up. 'Twas on the deck he died.
They wrapped him in his hammock, for it was long and wide
They wrapped him in his hammock and shoved him o'er the side,
And they buried him in the low lands, low lands, low lands,
And they buried him in the low lands low.
1. Should be sung, Amerikee to rhyme (apparently this was not sung that way)
2. bent his breast= bent over [fairly common] also smote his breast.