National Parks Traveler

When the full rigged Balclutha was a member of the Alaska Packer's Association in the early 1900s, she was named the Star of Alaska/NPS

Sheltering-in Chantey At San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

One National Park Became A Global Leader In Sea Music Before It Was Trendy

By Jonathan Horwitz

As Covid-19 spread across the world, something else was going viral online — sea chanteys. And one national park became a global leader in sea music before it was trendy.

The folk melodies sung aboard 19th century sailing vessels to coordinate tasks such as hauling net and mooring anchor have experienced a rebirth in the year 2021 thanks to social media platforms TikTok and Youtube. One techno rendition of Wellerman, a 150-year-old New Zealand whaling ballad, reached No. 1 on the U.K. Billboard Top 100 chart the first week of March. 

So, what does this have to do with America’s national parks? 

As it happens, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park has been way ahead of the trend, hosting monthly chantey sings at Hyde St. Pier since the 1980s. 

Before the pandemic, a handful of rangers and dozens of visitors would gather aboard the Eureka, a 19th century ferry boat, to belt maritime tunes to their hearts’ content until late hours of the night.

Ranger Kasin before Covid would sing chanteys on the piers of the historical park/NPS

Ranger Peter Kasin has led the chantey sings since 1996. Kasin, a friendly man with a baritone voice and wide smile, is better known for his conviviality than for running a tight ship. It has been reported that the only rules at his chantey sings are: no drinking, no smoking, and no jumping off the pier.

That’s not to say that Kasin isn’t organized. He’s rarely missed a chantey sing in 30 years. And, when the monthly crowds got too big for the sailing ship Balclutha, he quickly found a new home for them on the larger ferry boat.

While Kasin ensures the monthly meetups run like clockwork, he keeps the atmosphere organic and improvisational. Aside from starting and ending each singalong with the same two chanteys, everyone is welcome to chime in with their maritime melodies of choice.

“There’s no set list or anything like that,” Kasin says. “It’s very spur of the moment.”

Kasin is unique among park rangers for another spur of the moment decision he made in 1989 — to join the National Park Service to pursue his love of sea music. When friends took him to his first chantey sing at San Francisco Maritime Park, Kasin says he had an “epiphany” on the shelter deck of the Balclutha.

“I saw a park ranger with a guitar leading about 70 people singing, and I said, ‘Oh my God, I love this,’” Kasin recalls. “I decided right then and there that this is what I wanted to do.”

Other performers would join Kasin for music festivals on the park's pier/NPS file

He walked up to the ranger, introduced himself, and the rest is history. After volunteering at the park for two years, Kasin became an interpretive ranger.

When the pandemic canceled in-person gatherings, Kasin, on the verge of retirement, made another spur of the moment decision about how to continue the singalong tradition.

He moved the monthly chantey sings online to Zoom, and he continues to lead the virtual meetups despite retiring from his other ranger duties last spring.

The decision was a big hit. Kasin says virtual attendance often exceeds 1,000 guests, including people from across the globe.

Pauline Grousset is one such international attendee. The 24-year-old French woman says she is often the youngest chantey singer at the virtual meetups and sometimes the one furthest from San Francisco.

Yet, Grousset tunes in from nine time zones ahead  — singing to the rising sun while Kasin and company chant to the moon — because she says there is nothing quite like the San Francisco chantey sings. And, she would know. At the Sorbonne in Paris, Grousset is a musicologist writing her master’s thesis on sea music festivals.

“I haven’t seen anything else like them, especially not in France because we don’t have institutions like national parks,” Grousset said over a Zoom interview.

Thus, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, which also houses the largest museum and research collection in the National Park Service, has become a bastion of American Pacific maritime history as well as nautical traditions from around the world. 

“The San Francisco program is essential because sea music needs to be sung together,” Grousset said. With most music festivals canceled due to the coronavirus, she adds, “It's a really good thing that they managed to keep the sings going even through the pandemic.”

The Balclutha today at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park/NPS file

Sea chanteys are celebrated monthly at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park as they played an important role in coordinating shipboard jobs. Hauling on lines to raise sails, turning the capstan, and manning the ship’s pumps required sailors to work together in rhythm. The chanteys also helped to lift spirits during the often monotonous and back-breaking work. Bring home an official park product from Western National Parks Association.

Although sailors once considered it taboo to sing chanteys on land, Kasin began to record songs from his home last spring to expand the park’s virtual interpretative ranger services.

For more information about sea chanteys, visit his shelter-in chantey series on the maritime park’s website.

Traveler postscript: To quench your thirst, momentarily, for chanteys, check out the 2019 movie Fisherman's Friends, which is based on real-life fishermen from Cornwall who rose to fame after they were signed to a record deal because of their chanteys.

For general information on the chantey sing, https://maritime.org

To sign up to lead a song at the April 17 virtual chantey sing, please go to https://maritime.org/sea-chantey-sign-up/

This article was made possible in part by the support of Western National Parks Association.