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the Shipbuilding Odyssey program: "KENNEBUNK (Sep 15, 2007): On Saturday, Sept. 29, the Shipbuilding Odyssey program will return to the Brick Store Museum, located at 117 Main St. in Kennebunk. Kids, parents and grandparents are invited to take part in this intergenerational, family-oriented, one-day event that explores the shipbuilding heritage of the Kennebunks. Begin the day hearing about life in the Kennebunks' many 19th-century shipyards and what it took to build the vessels that eventually sailed trade routes spanning the globe. Create your very own Kennebunk-built ship and sing sea shanties."

The Sea Shanty.net

Sea Shanties are the work songs of the sea that helped sailors synchronize their hard and repetitive tasks, so they could labor more efficiently and safely. Singing a sea shanty provided several benefits: a diversion for the mind, avoiding boredom, lightening the burden of mundane tasks, and expression of sailors' views which would otherwise not be tolerated.

"Shanties were labour songs sung by sailors of the merchant service only while at work, and never by way of recreation. Moreover—at least, in the nineteenth century—they were never used aboard men-o'-war, where all orders were carried out in silence to the pipe of the bo'sun's whistle....
Sea Shanty Types & Examples / Sea Shanty Lyrics & Sheet Music
Sea Shanty Terms / Sea Shanty Links / Sea Shanty Festivals
Shanty Performers / Sea Shanty Store