March 10, 2006
The Park Service website reads simply "sing traditional working songs aboard a floating vessel."
The songs? Sea chanteys. The vessel? A majestic iron-hulled squarerigger called the "Balclutha". I had no idea how inspiring the experience could be, nor how powerful. It turned out I had inadvertently wandered into a 25 year old San Francisco tradition: the “chantey sing”. This monthly gathering not only serves as a fascinating tie to our maritime history but also happens to be a unique and thriving San Francisco community.
Although I had gone down to the pier with no intention of doing research for a podcast, after five minutes on board I knew that "sparkletack #50" would be the perfect occasion to share this wonderful story.
For further edification:
» Hyde Street Pier – National Park Service
» Hyde Street Pier virtual tour
» chantey history
» more chantey history and lots of songs
» Todd Menton – chantey featured on Sparkletack
- SFist: “A Jitney Elopement” — Charlie Chaplin’s San Francisco film
- #31: Carville — A Lost Neighborhood
- screwball time-traveling noir: the bay time detective
- #19: The Mission Burrito
- #16: San Francisco Pyramid
Musical support:
Thanks to the amazing Derek Sonderfan for “Knitting Sand”, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.
Sparkletack was the blog and podcast of a guy obsessed with diggin' up San Francisco history. The site is on permanent hiatus.
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March 13, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Richard,
I have been lucky enough to spend several nights on the Balclutha with my son’s class and scout troop, and the NPS is doing a great job making it come alive. Sleeping in the fo’c’s’le or standing on the poop deck at night, under the howling rigging is truly a unique experience, and only hints at the screaming north Pacific gales they regularly sailed through.
As an Alamedan, I would hope to have some mention of the Alaska Packer Fleet home port, and the important restoration work currently being done on the Thayer here at Bay Ship and Yacht. Alameda has a rich maritime history, and the most recent excitement was the discovery by James Allan of UC Berkeley of a scuttled ironclad in the estuary.
Thanks again for the great podcasts.
Joe
March 16, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Another great podcast. I ‘ve been aboard the Balclutha, and visited the Maritime museum (free admission), but I learnt much more about the Balclutha from your podcast! I didn’t know the ship was named after a small town 50 miles from were I was born!
June 6, 2007 at 4:39 pm
The “website” link (the 4th word in the first line) is broken. I searched the site and fear the chantey sings no more.
June 6, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Perish the thought! In a fit of uncharacteristic energy, they’ve just reorganized the website… I’ve fixed the link, and all is well.
I haven’t been in a while, and really miss it — watched “Captain Kidd” last night and was chanteying all over the room…
Visit their new webpage here.
August 23, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Hey, um , didn’t you used to be a punk rocker?
I finally got around to listening to your fine podcast re the Balclutha & I think I smell a Pulitzer!
I’m going to go back & start listening at pod #1.
The breadth of your knowledge shames me.
p.s. Pirates .437, Giants .438
February 22, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Great podcast. I ‘ve been to the Balclutha, and visited the Maritime museum, but your podcast is more informative.
September 10, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.
April 18, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I used to live in Mill Valley and visit SF often. Thanks for your podcast. My mom used to sing something about “deep blue sea Willey, deep blue sea” I wonder if it was a chantey passed down…
April 20, 2011 at 4:39 pm
@Joe McGuire above..
I used to work on small cruise ships and bunked at one time in the fo’c’s’le myself. I didn’t like that section at all during rough seas because of the pounding of the wave against the hull, but it beat sleeping aft by the engines where you can breath in the fumes from the engines.
Dave