Goos Nelson

Kan Gernewek dyworth Ragdres Morgannow

Note
Shanties are part of global maritime culture derived from and inspired by the working songs of the days of sail. It is the nature of shanties that they are readily tailored to individual places and circumstances and this was the case in Cornwall where a number of shanties were identified by Ralph Dunstan and earlier folk song collectors. Shanties continue to be part of Cornwall’s singing tradition. In the case of Nelson’s Blood, the story goes that after Nelson fell in the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was sealed in a cask of rum to preserve it. When the sailors heard of this, they drank their fill. Thus the traditional naval rum ration, “grog”, became known as “Nelson’s Blood”.