The Sailor's Hornpipe (also known as The College Hornpipe and Jack's the Lad) is a traditional hornpipe melody and linked dance with origins in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

History

The tune was first printed as the "College Hornpipe" in 1797 or 1798 by J. Dale of London. However, versions of the tune are found in earlier manuscript collections – for example, a syncopated version in the

William Vickers manuscript From 1770-2 a man called William Vickers made a manuscript collection of dance tunes, of which some 580 survive, including both pipe and fiddle tunes. The manuscript is incomplete - 31 pages have not survived, though their contents are listed at t ...

, written on Tyneside, dated 1770. The hornpipe dance imitates the life of sailors and their duties aboard ship. Due to the small space that the dance required, and no need for a partner, the dance was popular on-board ship.

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

referred to this tune in his diary as "The Jig of the Ship" and Captain Cook, who took a piper on at least one voyage, is noted to have ordered his men to dance the hornpipe in order to keep them in good health. The dance on-ship became less common when fiddlers ceased to be included in ships' crew members. In dramatic stage productions, from around the sixteenth century, a popular feature was a sea dance. But the nineteenth century saw the more familiar form of the "sailors' hornpipe" introduced. Nautical duties (for example the hauling of ropes, rowing, climbing the rigging and saluting) provided the dance movements. During the

Last Night of the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

in London, when the tune is played as part of

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

's ''

Fantasia on British Sea Songs Fantasia on British Sea Songs or Fantasy on British Sea Songs is a medley of British sea songs arranged by Sir Henry Wood in 1905 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. For many years it has been an indispensable item at the BBC's Last N ...

'', the spectators bring miniature foghorns and

party horn A party horn (also a party blower, party pipe, party elephant, party blowout, noisemaker, party whistle, party honker, ta-doo-dah, noise popper, birthday kazoo, whizzer, blow tickler, tongue kazoo, or party snake) is a horn formed from a paper ...

s and blow them along to the music, creating a loud, frenetic finale as the music reaches its fastest speed. The tune was played in the animated '' Popeye'' cartoons beginning in the 1930s, usually as the first part of the opening credits theme, which then segued into an instrumental of " I'm Popeye the Sailor Man".

Recordings

This tune has been recorded by: * Mike Oldfield on '' Tubular Bells'' (1973) and '' Tubular Bells 2003'' (2003) *

Achim Reichel Achim Reichel (born 28 January 1944) is a musician, producer, and songwriter from Hamburg, Germany. He is known for his 1991 hit single ''Aloha Heja He'', and serving as the frontman for the 1960s beat group The Rattles, who, among other achieve ...

as "Piratentanz" on ''Klabautermann'' (1977) * Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor on ''

Appalachia Waltz ''Appalachia Waltz'' is the first album from the trio of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, double-bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, and fiddler and composer Mark O'Connor. Sony Classical released the disc in 1996. It was recorded over three days, 14–17 Augus ...

'' (1996) * Carlos Núñez on ''Cinema Do Mar'' (2005) * The Spotnicks as "Bach Goes to Sea" in 1963 * The Tornados as "Popeye Twist" in 1962

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sailors Hornpipe English folk music Maritime music 1790s songs Popeye Sea shanties Royal Navy traditions