In youth the author's heart put to sea to search for a love that stands the tests of time. Now, he and his wife go on missions of mercy, occasionally by sea; and the small ketch they call “Tiare Maori” is being prepared to sail on “the wings of the dawn”. The Vinson family's “Uncle Carl” is known as the “patriarch” and “father of the two ocean navy”; the author’s dream is to see a fleet of vessels commissioned for service in the Kingdom of God, flying Christ's ensign and setting sail to spread an aroma of blossomed “Loving-kindness” with which God desires to crown every life.

In youth the author's heart put to sea to search for a love that stands the tests of time. Now, he and his wife go on missions of mercy, occasionally by sea; and the small ketch they call "Tiare Maori" is being prepared to sail on "the wings of the dawn". The Vinson family's "Uncle Carl" is known as the "patriarch" and "father of the two ocean navy"; the author's dream is to see a fleet of vessels commissioned for service in the Kingdom of God, flying Christ's ensign and setting sail to spread an aroma of blossomed "Loving-kindness" with which God desires to crown every life.

Passed down in the oral tradition and sung traditionally as working songs, sea shanties tell the human stories of life at sea: hard graft, battling the elements, the loss of ships or pining for a lady on shore. Its pages decorated with hand-drawn or wood-cut illustrations from celebrated artist Jonny Hannah, Sailor Song addresses the current modern revival of sea shanties, and seeks to celebrate and to explore the historical, musical and social history of the traditional sea song through 40 beautiful, mournful, haunting and uplifting shanties. Acclaimed shanty devotee Gerry Smyth presents the background to each one alongside musical notation. The lyrics are elaborated with explanations of terminology, context including historical facts and accounts of life at sea, and the characters, both fictional and non-fictional, that appear in the songs from the great age of sail to the last days of square-rig. Where appropriate, a direct digital link is made to a shanty recording in the British Library Sound Archive.

Discover amazing and fascinating sea creatures in the hole in the bottom of the sea! Based on the traditional cumulative song, each verse introduces a new creature and its place in the food chain, with the shark chasing the eel, who chases the squid, who chases the snail. Enhanced CD includes videso animation and audio singalong.

"Fresh as the breezes of that ocean to which they owe their inspiration, the 'chanties' and songs here collected come to us as a most interesting and unique contribution to our literature of the sea. For this volume contains no mere study-compilation of more or less authentic sea ditties, mingled with the nautical effusions of landsmen. It is original in its conception and execution. With one or two trifling exceptions, it is a collection of what may be styled 'the genuine article'--not the creation of landsmen written for or about sailors, but the actual 'working songs' of the sea that were in use at the present time. Still further, this book contains not merely the ditties of our own Jack Tars, but a selection of the sea-songs of nearly all maritime nations, translated and ably commented on, from a literary, musical, and nautical point of view, together with a good deal of interesting information regarding them." --Introductory note.