“After an hour or so of frantic prancing and gyrating some of the pirates decided to take a rest from the strenuous physical activity and sat to one side singing an old seaman’s song known as Spanish Ladies.”
Spanish Ladies is a traditional British naval song, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of naval ratings. It is believed to have been inspired when the Royal Navy carried supplies to Spain to aid its resistance to revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition, which took place from 1793 to 96. Spending a lot of time in Spain during this period it seems many British sailors managed to obtain Spanish wives and lovers, who they either didn’t want to or weren’t able to bring home to England when the war ended.
After taking soundings to help determine their position, the song tracks their homeward journey up the English Channel, mentioning various landmarks along the way until dropping anchor in the Downs, off the east Kent coast. The mood is melancholic as they then drink to drown the sorrows after leaving loved ones behind. Many hope to return to Spain one day.
The song is featured in The Oxford Book of Sea Songs, which was edited by Roy Palmer in 1986. In the book it is stated that the earliest known reference to this song is in the logbook of HMS Nellie from 1796. A ballad with the same name was registered with the Stationers’ Company, a printing guild in the City of London, on 14th December 1624. Members of the guild could document their ownership of copyright of a work by entering it in the Stationers’ Company Register. It is believed by some to be an earlier version of the same song.
Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, to you ladies of Spain;
For we’ve received orders for the sail for old England,
But we hope very soon we shall see you again.
{Chorus}
We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true British sailors,
We’ll rant and we’ll roar all on the salt seas;
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England:
From Ushant to Scilly it’s thirty-five leagues.
We hove our ship to, with the wind at sou’-west, boys,
We hove our ship to, our soundings to see;
We rounded and sounded, got forty five fathoms,
Then we squared our main yard and up channel steered we
{Chorus}
The next land we made t’was called the Deadman,
Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portland the Wight
Then we sailed by Beachy, by Fairlee and Dungeness,
’til we came abreast of the South Foreland light.
{Chorus}
Then the signal was made for the Grand Fleet to anchor,
All in the Downs that night for to lie;
Then it’s stand by your stoppers, steer clear your shank-painters,
Haul up your clew garnets, let tacks and sheets fly!
So let every man toss off a full bumper,
and let every man drink up a full glass;
We’ll drink and be merry and drown melancholy,
singing here’s a good health to each true-hearted lass!
{Chorus}