Borders and Crossings - An Interdisciplinary Conference on Travel Writing

'I see ane grit schip': Documenting the history of the shanty through travel writing While commonly known as something of a nineteenth century tradition, evidence of shantying can be found as far back as the 15th century in travel writing dating from this time, and even further back if we include rowing songs as a form of maritime work song or early form of shanty. Prior to the nineteenth century, most of our knowledge of shanties comes from accounts by travellers, pilgrims and the sailors themselves, who wrote accounts of their journeys and the role that music played in the maritime setting that they found themselves in. This paper explores the role of travel writing in documenting the history of the shanty, the influence that early travel writers had on our understanding of shantying practices, and, finally, advocates for more frequent use of travel writing as a primary source in the study of…