The Sailors Hornpipe. Arranged by: Leon A Brouwer, the Netherlands Preformed by: The Vienna Symphonic (Library) Date of recording: 20 March 2010.
The Sailor's Hornpipe (also known as The College Hornpipe and Jack's the Lad[1]) is a traditional hornpipe melody.
The usual tune for this dance was first printed as the "College Hornpipe" in 1797 or 1798 by J. Dale of London. [2]. It was found in manuscript collections before then - for instance the fine syncopated version in William Vickers' manuscript, written on Tyneside, dated 1770 [3]. The dance imitates the life of a sailor and their duties aboard ship. Sailors from the Royal Navy are believed to have invented the solo dance, as an exercise aboard ship[4]. Due to the small space that the dance required, and no need for a partner, the dance was popular on-board ship[5].
It is likely that the Sailor's Hornpipe was originally performed on the wet deck of a ship, in bare feet[4]. Accompaniment may have been the music of a tin whistle or, from the 19th century, a squeezebox. Samuel Pepys referred to it in his diary as "The Jig of the Ship" and Captain Cook, who took a piper on at least one voyage, is noted to have ordered his men to dance the hornpipe in order to keep them in good health[5]. The dance on-ship became less common when fiddlers ceased to be included in ships' crew members[6].
In dramatic stage productions, from around the sixteenth century, a popular feature was a sea dance[6]. But the nineteenth century saw the more familiar form of the "sailors hornpipe" introduced[6]. Nautical duties (for example the hauling of ropes, rowing, climbing the rigging and saluting) provided the dance movements