The Golden Victory- George (VT) 1933 Flanders BB
[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.
BB. "The Golden Victory" Mrs. Elmer George of East Calais, Vermont, learned this version of Child 286 from her parents and from Henry Laundry. H. H. F., Collector; 1933
The Golden Victory
The good old ship was sailing, a-sailing o'er the sea;
The name of the ship was The Golden Victory.
The name of the ship was The Golden Victory
As she sailed o'er the lowlands low.
Up jumped the captain and up spoke he,
"Is there anyone on board that will sink the Golden Victory?
Is there anyone on board that will sink the Victory,
That will sink her in the Lowlands low?"
"O Captain, O Captain, oh, what'll you give to me?
O Captain, O Captain, oh, what'll you give to me?
O Captain, O Captain, oh, what'll you give to me
If I sink her down in the Lowlands low?"
"I will give you silver and I will give you gold,
The hand of my daughter if you should return bold,
The hand of my daughter if you should return bold,
If you sink her down in the Lowlands low."
He bent down his breast and away he did swim,
A dagger in his hand for to let the water in,
A dagger in his hand for to let the water in
And to sink her down in the Lowlands low.
He bent upon his back and away went he.
He swam 'til he came to The Golden Victory.
He swam 'til he came to The Golden Victory
For he sank her down in the Lowlands low.
"O Captain, O Captain, oh, will you take me in?"
They took him from the water and they laid him on the bed.
In less than half an hour, this cabing [1] boy was dead.
In less than half an hour, this cabing boy was dead
And they sank him down in the Lowlands low.
1. cabin- not sure why Flanders has this even if it was pronounced this way. See in several other of her versions.