"Shanghai Brown, Shanghai Brown!"
The Skipper o' the
Harvest Moon is rampin' round the town
Looking for some sailormen to beg or steal or borrow —
Can't get a crew an' he wants to sail tomorrow!
"Prime seamen's very scarce just now — but where's his money down,
An' I'll see what I can do for him," says Shanghai Brown.
"Shanghai Brown, Shanghai Brown,"
He's sent his touts an' runners out all around the town;
He's raked in men both high an' low, he's got both black an' white;
He's got the
Lauderdale 's port watch that only berthed last night;
He's got a brace of farmhands with the hayseeds in their hair;
He's got a bridegroom and best man, for what does Shanghai care?
An' he's shipped 'em in the
Harvest Moon, the toughest packet goin',
(That never gets a sailorman' to sign aboard her, knowin'),
With a hardcase drivin' skipper, an' a bull-voiced bucko mate,
By the Shanghai passage from the Golden Gate.
They'll be wonderin' in the mornin' what it was they drank las' night;
They'll be wonderin' what's hit 'em if they show an ounce of fight;
They'll be scoffin' seaboot duff, they'll be suppin' handspike gruel,
An' dodgin' the belayin'-pins, and cursin' Shanghai cruel;
But there's one won't wake nor wonder, nor scoff no grub at all,
Nor drag his achin' bones along to tally on the fall,
Nor jump to please the toughest mate New England ever bred,
Not stand no trick nor lookout &mdash an' for why? Because he's dead!
"Shanghai Brown, Shanghai Brown!"
The Skipper o' the
Harvest Moon is rampin' round the town,
Looking for some sailormen to beg or steal or borrow —
Can't get a crew an' he wants to sail tomorrow!
"Prime seamen's very scarce just now!," says Shanghai Brown,
So he's took an' shipped a corp away, has Shanghai Brown,
By the Shanghai Passage, outer 'Frisco Town!
From SAILOR'S DELIGHT, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Methuen & Co., London, UK, © 1931, pp. 9-10; first published in PUNCH magazine, Volume 180, May 20, 1931, p. 546.
The Royal Navy was famous for its press-gang tactics for securing a ship's crew but the Merchant Navies of the world had their methods too.
It was not uncommon for a hired gang to roam around the back alleys and taverns in a port and secure able bodied men as crew for a skipper who couldn't get a full complement any other way. These men were often delivered aboard unconscious, dead drunk or occasionally as in this poem just plain dead!
"To shanghai" was to force someone to ship out by drugging them or knocking them on the head. It's not clear why the port of Shanghai has been associated with this term unless forced recruitment by shipping agents was the only way to secure a crew for such a long voyage.
"Rampin'" is an archaic slang word which means rampaging.
"Lauderdale's port watch" — a ship's crew was divided into a number of groups called watches, usually port-watch and starboard-watch, that could be worked in shifts. When in port it was usual practice to allow the sailors liberty one watch at a time. "Lauderdale's port watch" is therefore a section of crew from a recently docked ship.
"Seaboot duff" is a euphemism for a good kicking.
"Handspike gruel" is a euphemism for blood.
"Belayin'-pins" are large wooden pegs for tying off sails but often used as weapons.
"To tally on the fall" means to grab hold of a line that is hanging down and haul away on it.
This poem has been adapted for singing by Alan Fitzsimmons as recorded on SEA BOOT DUFF & HAND SPIKE GRUEL by Pinch o' Salt, © 2000. An alternative musical setting by Charles Ipcar is recorded on UNCOMMON SAILOR SONGS, © 2004.
The header graphic is from the book SHANGHAIED IN SAN FRANCISCO, by Bill Pickelhaupt, the front cover; the source of the original graphic is unknown.
Jim Saville
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