A Sequel to the disconsolate sailor

“The Disconsolate Sailor” beginning “When my money was gone that I gain’d in the wars,” was written by George Saville Carey (1743-1807) and set to music by James Hook. A unique American setting with a somewhat less florid tune appears in The Songster’s Museum (22), but for this British imprint Hook’s melody is the most appropriate. For the music see Written and Corrected by James Campbell.

This broadside is one of seven English prints Thomas added to his collection of Coverly broadsides before having them bound (see The Sailor’s Departure from His True Love Susan). Three of the English prints, including this one, are identified as coming from John Evans’s press at Long Lane, West Smithfield, between 1791 and 1792, and the others resemble them closely. They are printed from engraved plates and the fine details of the illustrations are enhanced with watercolors. Broadsides like these were rare in America although not unknown.