On Board of the Kangaroo also known as On Board the Kangaroo, Aboard the Kangaroo, Good Ship Kangaroo and Bristol Sea Shanty is generally regarded as an English shanty. It was composed by Londoner Harry Clifton, reviewed in the press in July 1864, and published as

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

in 1865. The song is sung from the perspective of a

mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor' ...

who worked on a ship called the ''Kangaroo'', which was probably SS ''Kangaroo'', an 1853 Scottish cargo steamer that foundered in a gale off

Rhoscolyn Rhoscolyn is a village and community located on Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales. It is just over five miles south of Holyhead and is the most southerly settlement on the island. The name Rhoscolyn is said to mean "The Moor" ''(Rhos)'' of The Column ...

, Wales in January 1862. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index 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 ...

number of 925.

Notable recordings

* Elizabeth Cronin - ''The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin, Irish Traditional Singer: The Complete Song Collection'' (2000) *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American Folk music, folk singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his o ...

- ''Songs of Ireland'' (1958) *

Nic Jones Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians. Biography ...

- '' In Search of Nic Jones'' (1998) *

Planxty Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, gu ...

- '' After the Break'' (1979) * Tony Rose - ''Bare Bones'' (1999) * Waldorf String Band - ''Celtic Celebration'' (2014){{Citation , title=The Good Ship Kangaroo , date=2014-11-17 , url=https://open.spotify.com/track/49hzcab1AEpFZeJAdCHgkV , language=en , access-date=2022-10-26

References

Sea shanties British folk songs