A also in Euing, No 334, Crawford, No 1073, Huth, II, No 134; all by the same printer, 1682-85.
Motherwell enters the first stanza of another copy of 'The Turkish Galley' in his Note-Book, p. 10, and refers to three copies more, besides B d, at p. 51.
There is a retouched copy of C in English County Songs, Lucy E. Broadwood and J.A. Fuller Maitland, p. 182.
B, C, are probably traditional variations of the broadside A. The conclusion of the broadside is sufficiently inadequate to impel almost any singer to attempt an improvement, and a rather more effective catastrophe is the only signal difference besides names. It is, however, not quite impossible that the ultimate source of the traditional copies may be as old as the broadside.
A. 'The Sweet Trinity,' a ship built by Sir Walter Raleigh, has been taken by a galley of a nationality not specified. The master of some English ship asks what seaman will take the galley and redeem The Sweet Trinity. A ship-boy asks what the reward shall be; the reward shall be gold and fee, and the master's eldest daughter. The ship-boy, who is possessed of an auger which bores fifteen holes at once, swims to the galley, sinks her, and releases The Sweet Trinity; then swims back to his ship and demands his pay. The master will give gold and fee, but not his daughter to wife. The ship-boy says, Farewell, since you are not so good as your word.
B. No ship has been taken by an enemy. The Golden Vanity, Golden Victorie, e, falls in with a French galley, which a cabin-boy undertakes to sink for a reward. The reward is to be, a, b, an estate in the North Country; c, half the captain's lands in the South Country, meat and fee, and the captain's eldest daughter; e, gold and fee, and the captain's daughter. The boy is rolled up in a bull-skin and thrown over the deck-board (a corruption, see C). He takes out an instrument, and bores thirty holes at twice, a; a gimlet, and bores sixty holes and thrice, b; he struck her with an instrument, bored thirty holes at twice, c; threescore holes he scuttled in a trice, d; struck her wi an auger, thirty three and thrice, e. After sinking the galley he calls to the Golden Vanity to throw him a rope, take him on board, and be as good as their word, all which is refused. He threatens to serve them as he has the galley, a, b, d; they take him up and prove better than their word, a, d, or as good, b. (Of f very little was remembered by Scott, and the ballad was besides confounded with 'The George Aloe.'[foot-note])
C. The distinguishing feature is that the boy dies after he is taken up from the water, and is sewed up in a cow's hide and thrown overboard, 'to go down with the tide.' The Golden Vanity, a-d, The Gold Pinnatree, e, The Golden Trinitie, g, is in danger from a Turkish galleon, a, f, g, a Spanish, b, c (pirate Targalley), d, French, e. The captain of the English ship promises the cabin-boy gold, fee, and daughter, if he will sink the enemy. The boy has, and uses, an auger, to bore two holes at twice, a, that bores twenty holes in twice, b, to bore two holes at once, c; a case of instruments, ca's fifty holes and drives them a' at once, e; an instrument, and bores nine holes in her water-sluice, f; an auger fitted for the use, and bores in her bottom a watery sluice, g. The master will not take him on board, will kill him, shoot him, sink him, a-d; will not keep his bargain, 'for as you've done to her, so would you do to me,' e (compare the threat in B 13). The boy is taken up by his messmates and dies on the deck, a, c, d; is sewed in a cow-hide and thrown overboard, a, c-g; in b sinks from exhaustion and drowns.
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