I’m afloat, I’m afloat

AKA The Rover
The Rover of the Sea
The Cornish Pirate
First Published c1840
Writer/composer Eliza Cook / H Russell Roud RN2025

Music Hall Performers Joseph Arnold Cave
Folk performances Source Singers
Tray, Martha Ann 1846 USA
Evans, Charles C. 1851 USA
Bartley, Thomas D. 1852 USA
Kinsman, Bill 1961 England		 

From sheet music published in 1841

I'm afloat! I'm afloat! on the fierce rolling tide,
The ocean's my home, and my bark is my bride!
Up! up! with my flag! let it wave o'er the sea,
I'm afloat! I'm afloat! and the rover is free!
I fear not the monarch, I heed not the law;
I've a compass to steer by, a dagger to draw;
And ne'er as a coward! or slave will I kneel,
While my guns carry shot, or my belt bears a steel!
Quick! quick! trim her sails, let her sheets kiss the wind
And I warrant we'll soon leave the seagulls behind;
Up! up! with my flag! let it wave o'er the sea!
I'm afloat! I'm afloat! and the rover is free!

The night gathers o'er us, the thunder is heard;
What matter, our vessel skins on like a bird
What to her is the dash of the storm ridden main?
She has brav'd it before, and will brave it again!
The fire gleaming flashes around us may fall;
They may strike, they may cleave, but they cannot appal;
With lightnings above us, and darkness below,
Through the wild waste of waters right onward we go;
Hurrah! my brave boys, ye may drink, ye may sleep
The storm fiend is hush'd, we're a lone on the deep
Our flag of defiance still waves o'er the sea,
Hurrah boys! hurrah! the rover is free!
Hurrah boys! hurrah! the rover is free!

This song was not written for the Halls or even for the tavern and singing rooms. The words were written by the influential Victorian sentimental poet and publisher, Eliza Cook. I’m afloat is one of a number of her poems that were set to music and became staples of Victorian singing. Her songs were sung pretty much everywhere, from the concert halls and parlours frequented by the respectable middle classes, to the less salubrious music halls. She wrote her share of nationalistic drivel like The Flag of the Free – but this one, written in the 1830s when Cook was still in her teens, is less obviously nationalistic and seems to be a straightforward hymn in praise of piracy! It even hints at Republicanism!

I’m afloat appeared extremely widely in printed form, both legitimate songbooks and sheet music, as well as in less official street literature. It was a popular song amongst sailors – the mid 19th century source singers listed come from evidence derived from ship’s logs/journals.

The song was widely parodied – examples include I’m a bhoy, The shop Boy is free, and I’m Afloat on the Erie Canal

In the early Halls, it was famously sung by JA “Joe” Cave (1823-1912). Cave was formerly a juvenile performer in the pleasure gardens that were popular before the rise of the Halls. In the 1850s he sang regularly at the Coal Hole, one of the London song-and-supper rooms that influenced the development of the Halls. In the 1860s he became something of an impresario, managing several different Halls and famously helping to launch the career of Jenny Hill. In the early part of his career he was one of the first blackface comedians in Britain – he claimed to have introduced banjo to this country. As a performer his repertoire included songs like The Factotum, Villikins and his Dinah, and Kathleen Mavoureen.

Eliza Cook (1818-1889), daughter of a brass worker, was a poet and radical thinker. She was a Chartist and supporter of political and sexual freedom for women. Some contemporaries criticised her for dressing in male clothes and it’s likely that she was a lesbian. Given the moral climate of the Victorian age it is perhaps surprising that she was so popular, both with the working and middle classes. It’s possible that her cross-class appeal can be explained by her philosophy of “levelling up” which stressed self-improvement as a road to a more equal society. Many of her songs were set to music and became staples in the parlours of the middle classes.

One of many parodies:

Sources: