Posted by Jock on September 12, 2011 at 03:51:20 user Jock.
When I first read Swallows and Amazons it seemed quite natural
that the Swallows were quite familiar with sea shanties. After all I had
learnt Blow the Man Down, Drunken Sailor, Maid of Amsterdam, Rio
Grande and others at school in the late 1950s and had no reason to
think that school song books in the 1920s would have been any different.
However an initial on-line search would seem to indicate that today's
well-known shanties only started being included in school song books post
WWII. So where did the Swallows learn there sea shanties? TarBoarders
thinking of replying to this question by saying that they were taught by
their father should also posit a credible explanation where Commander
Walker learnt his sea shanties!