De Hamborger Veermaster


De Hamborger Veermaster is a famous sea shanty sung in Low German, presumably first published between 1850 and 1890. It is partly in English, an adaptation of the shanty "The Banks of the Sacramento", and partly in Low German. It was and occasionally, in particular in Northern Germany, the historical geographical distribution of Low German, still is sung as a work song.
Some claim that the "four-master" was the Hamburg America Line sailing ship Deutschland which at that time was used in transatlantic emigrant transport, but it is unclear whether any specific vessel is in fact referred to. Another source says that the text would refer to the Liverpool steamer Crimean which had been bought and converted into a sailing ship by the Hamburg shipping company Sloman after 1885. In any case, this is in marked contrast to "The Banks of the Sacramento", which follows a similar pattern but deals with a fast and seaworthy ship traveling the Clipper route and taking "never more than seventy days" "rom Limehouse Docks to Sydney Heads".

Lyrics