History

The Yarmouth Shantymen formed by accident (almost) as the group was formed in 1984 to accompany Eric Ruff, the curator of the Yarmouth County Museum, in a talk on sea shanties. This was to be a "one-time" gig, however, almost twenty years later the group is still going strong.

The Yarmouth Shantymen, as a group, has changed little in the past two decades with several of its ten members remaining with the group. Although a few members have come and gone the current shantymen are faithful to the original mandate of promoting the old songs of sailors from the "age of sail".

The Shantymen perform in a variety of venues for diverse gatherings. They can be found singing at the local "Fish Feast" celebrations during SeaFest each July or entertaining a tour bus crowd at a local hotel conference room. They have provided a lively source of entertainment to the Nova Scotia Association of Municipalities, as well as, representing the province of Nova Scotia on the waterfront of Bar Harbor, Maine.

"Euphemia"

-oil on canvas
-signed "W.H. Yorke, / L'pool / 1882"
-captioned "Euphemia" 1367 tons of Yarmouth. N.S.

Captn W.H. Cook."
-built in 1882 in Salmon River, Digby Co., NS

for Henry Lewis and others
-1380 tons, 205' x 39.6' x 22.6'
-final fate unknown

 

--courtesy Yarmouth County Museum and Archives

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We have collected our shanties from numerous sources but the majority of selections come to Stan Hugill's book "Shanties from the Seven Seas" (also known as the "bible of shanty singers").

 

 

 

Written by "the last shantyman" this book has a wealth of information about life at sea during the age of sail, as well as, the music and lyrics of over 400 sea shanties! We highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Golden Age of Sail!

 

(Click on image for more details and other books written by Stan)