We be Three Poor Mariners (SAB Chorus)

Title: We be three poor mariners, from Deuteromelia

Composer: Thomas Ravenscroft (c. 1583 or 93 – c. 1635)

Printout: 3 pages

Note: We be Three Poor Mariners is one of many songs collected by Ravenscroft and published in three volumes between 1609 and 1611. It is found in the second volume, Deuteromelia, along with many other folk songs, rounds, catches, and “freeman’s songs.” The reference to martial men in the second verse alludes to the fact that there was no love lost between a ship’s crew (the mariners) and the soldiers who were hired to travel on board and protect the ship from pirates. If contemporary sources are accurate, the soldiers considered themselves to be vastly superior to the sailors, refusing to even lend a hand in stormy weather when the ship and all on board were at risk.