Shanty Net

(c) Rudy Sunde The Orpheus was a proud ship Sailing the ocean waves, The Orpheus was a doomed ship Sailing a watery grave In 1863, she left old Sydney town 250 men on board, for New Zealand bound The Tasman Sea was smooth and calm She made her eastern run Until she reached the Manukau […]

Oh I can tell where the cherries grow, By the dry Cardrona Where I picked them long ago, On a day when I was sober On a day when I was sober. (Audience repeats the last line of each verse)   My father wore a parson’s coat By the dry Cardrona He kept a tally […]

Caviar comes from virgin sturgeon; Virgin sturgeon’s a very fine dish. Very few sturgeon are ever virgin, That’s why caviar’s a very rare dish. Caviar comes from virgin sturgeon; Virgin sturgeon’s a very fine fish. Virgin sturgeon needs no urgin’; That’s why caviar is my dish. I fed caviar to my girl-friend; She was a […]

Written by Bob Watson (c) 1984 Now, the Tasman Buster’s got a fair old blow And he strikes so sudden that his teeth don’t show And his home is on the Tasman Sea And it’s no use waiting for the glass to fall ‘Cause you’ll get no warning when he comes to call It’s Crash! […]

Words: Mike McPhee, Music: Rudy Sunde (c) 2008 Catlins gone, Bill Hanning too Master, mate and all the crew Down in lat’tude 48 Tried to enter Foveaux St Foveaux Strait, Foveaux Strait Cold out there in Foveaux Strait Wind it blows, Bill Hanning knows Cold out there in Foveaux Strait Big seas sweep the Anna’s […]

Words: Mike and Annabel McPhee, Music: Rudy Sunde (c) 2008 The wind is fair, the wind is fair Make sail and hasten o Can’t get out, I’ll be damned Look to me, John Mason o Down the bay, sailed away Take the helm John Mason o Ship and crew depend on you Take the helm […]

Words and Music by Bob Large (c) 2008 The life of a ship is threaded right through The lives of her owners, masters and crew And ‘The Jane’ would sing if she had a voice That a ship is as good as the skippers last choice They found her washed high on the shoreline that […]

Words and music: Warren Payne (c) 2009 It was 1875 when the Anna came alive at the Catlins River yard of Will McPhee From native timbers she was made, of the very finest grade They built her tough to survive the Southern Sea Gaff and topsail on her main and her mizzen the same And […]

Music & words (c) Rudy Sunde 2008 In 1860, Waikawa way A schooner was launched, a fine spring day “Oamaru Lass” the name on her bow She looked oh so sweet and sailed oh so proud Sailed from Waikawa to Oamaru bay Blown on the beach, there she did lay Floated once more, a change […]

Oh they built the ship Titanic To sail the ocean blue And they thought they had a ship That the water would never go through; But the Lord’s Almighty hand Said that ship would never land, It was sad when that great ship went down It was sad. It was sad. It was sad when […]