"Lukey's Boat" (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

1828) is a comical folk song originating from the east coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

Synopsis

There are many minor variations of the song, depending on the singer. However, it is essentially about the characteristics of Lukey's titular boat as well as his fishing gear. The last few stanzas usually depict Lukey returning home to find his wife dead and buried, but he does not grieve her death as he'll "have another in the spring of the year."

History and composition

Folklorist Elizabeth Bristol Greenleaf observed that Lukey's Boat is in the same

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

The Maid of Amsterdam "The Maid of Amsterdam", also known as "A-Roving", is a traditional sea shanty. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 649. History The song may date to the Elizabethan or Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scotland, ...

, which suggests that it may have derived from a

sea shanty A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...

. There is a tradition in the

town of Wesleyville that Lukey's Boat was written and composed by Virtue Kean (née Hann), the wife of Captain Job Kean. She is said to have written the song to tease local Wesleyville resident Lukey Gaulton during a community event at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church Hall. Supposedly, Gaulton then retaliated by adding a verse making light of Kean's

hypochondria Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. Hypochondria is an old concept whose meaning has repeatedly changed over its lifespan. It has been claimed that th ...

. Lukey's Boat is referenced in

George Allan England George Allan England (February 9, 1877 - June 26, 1936) was an American writer and explorer, best known for his speculative and science fiction. He attended Harvard University and later in life unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Maine. Life En ...

's ''Vikings of the Ice'' (1924), where it is sung by master watch Joe Stirge of the S/S '' Terra Nova''. England stated that the crew of the ''Terra Nova'' credited Stirge with writing the song. He also noted that Stirge's rendition was seemingly endless and continued for about 57 verses. The song was later documented by Greenleaf in 1929, who had heard it sung by various residents of

Twillingate Twillingate is a town of 2,121 people located on the Twillingate Islands ("Toulinquet") in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is about north ...

. The lyrics and music were first printed in full in Helen Creighton's collection ''Ballads from Nova Scotia'' (1932), although it was rendered as "Loakie's Boat." Creighton's informants claimed that the song was about a man from

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Lunenburg () is a port town on the South Shore (Nova Scotia), South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1753, the town was one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia. Historically, Lunenburg's economy relied o ...

. In 1940, Gerald S. Doyle collected the song for the second edition of his ''Old-Time Songs and Poetry of Newfoundland''.

Recordings

The song's popularity increased when

Great Big Sea Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scott ...

covered it for their 1995 album '' Up''. It was subsequently recorded by

The Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

featuring Great Big Sea for the 1998 album '' Fire in the Kitchen'' as well as by

Fiddler's Green Fiddler's Green is an after-life where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. In 19th-century English maritime folklore, it was a kind of after-life for sailors who had served at least fifty ye ...

for their 2007 album ''Drive Me Mad!''. The Cornish group Fisherman's Friends included the song on their 2024 album titled ''All Aboard''.

References

Newfoundland and Labrador folk songs Great Big Sea songs 1995 songs 1998 songs Comedy songs Canadian folk songs Songs about boats {{Folk-song-stub