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Rounding the Horn / The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite

[ Roud 4706 ; Ballad Index VWL090 ; trad.]

Ann Gilchrist collected this song in 1907 from W. Bolton, Southport, Lancashire. It was published in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. In 1960, A.L. Lloyd recorded a shorter version with only four verses for the album A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Like all tracks from this LP it was reissued in 2003 on the CD England & Her Traditional Songs. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:

Sailors grappling with the problem of ballad composition often found a convenient form in the description of a voyage. This lively narrative of a passage to Chile was a favourite with nineteenth century seamen, though it rarely found its way into print (there is a version in Rex Clement's Manavilins, naming Liverpool as the port of departure). A brig Amphitrite was engaged in the South American trade in the 1820s, and may be the ship referred to. Miss A.G. Gilchrist got this song from a fine old sailor singer, W. Bolton, of Southport, Lancs.

Cyril Tawney sang Rounding the Horn on his 1970 Argo album A Mayflower Garland. He commented in his sleeve notes:

On the few occasions I perform in my home “base” of Plymouth I am likely to introduce this into the programme purely out of mischief as it compares the girls of that city unfavourably with their opposite numbers in Valparaiso! Still, it is a very old sailor-song and things have probably changed greatly. After one broadcast performance a listener wrote to me pointing out that if the ship passed through Magellan Straits it would not be rounding the Horn at all. The song, however, only says the Amphritrite was “beating off” Magellan Straits, not passing through, so there.

Peter Bellamy, accompanied by Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle, recorded this song under the title The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite in 1979 on his album Both Sides Then; this track was included in the compilation CD Sailor's Songs and Sea Shanties.

Martin Simpson sang Rounding the Horn in 2001 on his CD The Bramble Briar. He commented in the liner notes:

Rounding the Horn was published in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and, again, I learned it from Peter [Bellamy]. I suspect that the novels of Patrick O'Brien set to music achieve similar heights of storytelling, yet it is the brevity of folksong which is so astonishing. In six verses this song conveys a novel's worth of motion and ideas.

It was also sung by Isla St. Clair in 1981 on her album The Song and the Story and by Patterson Jordan Dipper in 2002 on their album Flat Earth.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings Rounding the Horn

The gallant frigate, Amphitrite, she lay in Plymouth Sound,
Blue Peter at the foremast head for she was outward bound;
We were waiting there for orders to send us far from home;
Our orders came for Rio, and thence around Cape Horn.

When beating off Magellan Straits it blew exceeding hard;
Whilst shortening sail two gallant tars fell from the topsail yard.
By angry seas the ropes we threw from their poor hands was torn
We were forced to leave them to the sharks that prowl around Cape Horn.

When we got round the Horn, me boys, we had some glorious days
And very soon our killick dropped in Valparaiso Bay.
The pretty girls came down in flocks; I solemnly declare
They're far before the Plymouth girls with their long and curly hair.

Farewell to Valparaiso and farewell for a while,
Likewise to all the Spanish girls along the coast of Chile;
And if ever l live to be paid off l'll sit and sing this song:
“God bless those pretty Spanish girls we left around Cape Horn.”

Peter Bellamy sings The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite

The gallant frigate, Amphitrite, she lay in Plymouth Sound,
Blue Peter at the foremast head for we were outward bound;
We was waiting there for orders to send us far from home;
Our orders they come for Rio, and thence around Cape Horn.

When we arrived in Rio we prepared for heavy gales;
We bent on all the rigging, me boys, bent on all new sails.
From ship to ship they cheered us as we did sail along,
And they wished us pleasant weather in the rounding of Cape Horn.

In beating off Magellan Strait it blew exceeding hard;
Whilst shortening sail two gallant tars they fell from the topsail yard.
By angry seas the ropes we threw from their poor hands was torn
We were forced to leave them to the sharks that prowl around Cape Horn.

Now when we got round the Horn, my boys, we had some glorious days
And very soon our killick dropped in Valparaiso Bay.
Them pretty girls came down in flocks; I solemnly declare
That they are far before the Plymouth girls with their long and curling hair.

Because they love a jolly sailor when he spends his money free,
They'll laugh, they sing, they merry, merry be, they enjoy a jovial spree.
And when your money it is all gone they won't on you impose,
They are not like them Plymouth girls that'll pawn and sell your clothes.

So it's farewell to Valparaiso and farewell for a while,
Likewise to all them pretty Spanish girls all along the coast of Chile;
If ever l live to be paid off l'll sit and I'll sing this song:
“God bless them pretty Spanish girls we left around Cape Horn.”

Acknowledgements

The words are from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, eds Ralph Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd, Penguin, 1959. Thanks to Garry Gillard.