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Contemporary engraving of a pirate party (from http://anthropik.com/)
I’ve been listening to this hugely powerful song telling a story of slavery and piracy recently, first as sung by my friend Annie Dearman with her band Dearman, Gammon and Harrison, and later by Ewan McColl. Both versions are awesome, but I can’t let you hear an mp3 sample without breaking copyright. However, I can share the lyrics of the ballad with you.
I think it’s pretty clearly a broadside ballad, but unlike many, it’s far from being doggerel. Prepare to be shocked by this story of the cruelty of slaving and of piracy.
The Flying Cloud
My name is Arthur Hollandin, as you may understand
I was born ten miles from Dublin Town, down on the salt-sea strand,
When I was young and comely, sure, good fortune on me shone,
My parents loved me tenderly for I was their only son.
My father he rose up one day and with him I did go,
He bound me as a butcher’s boy to Pearson of Wicklow,
I wore the bloody apron there for three long years and more,
Till I shipped on board of The Ocean Queen belonging to Tramore.
It was on Bermuda’s island that I met with Captain Moore,
The Captain of The Flying Cloud, the pride of Baltimore,
I undertook to ship with him on a slaving voyage to go,
To the burning shores of Africa, where the sugar cane does grow.
It all went well until the day we reached old Africa’s shore,
And five hundred of them poor slaves, me boys, from their native land we bore,
Each man was loaded down with chains as we made them walk below,
Just eighteen inches of space was all that each man had to show. Continue reading “Piracy and slavery – the horror and the pity of The Flying Cloud”
