Henry Martin is a great Scottish pirate ballad, telling of three brothers, robbery on the high seas and a merchant ship sent to the bottom with everyone aboard
Traditional British ballads contain plenty of murderers, but Henry Martin gives us something even better: a Scottish pirate with a heavily armed ship.
The song begins with three brothers in Scotland drawing lots to decide which should become a sea robber and support the others with his crimes.
The lot falls upon Henry Martin, the youngest brother, who heads to sea and soon encounters a wealthy merchant vessel bound for London.
Henry Martin has surprisingly old roots and is closely related to the traditional ballad Andrew Barton, catalogued by Francis James Child as Child Ballad No. 167.
The original story was inspired by Sir Andrew Barton, a real Scottish seafarer who was killed during a spectacular sea battle with the English in 1511.
Barton was no ordinary pirate, although his enemies certainly regarded him as one. He operated with Scottish letters of marque, allowing him to attack Portuguese shipping in retaliation for attacks upon Scottish vessels.
His activities eventually brought him into conflict with England, and Henry VIII authorised an expedition against him. Barton was intercepted by ships commanded by Sir Edward Howard and Lord Thomas Howard before being killed during the resulting battle.
His adventures quickly entered popular culture, although the traditional songs transformed history into something considerably more entertaining.
Henry Martin developed as a shorter version of the Andrew Barton story, stripping away many historical details while keeping Scotland, piracy, cannon fire and plenty of death.
The song wastes little time getting started:
There were three brothers in merry Scotland
In merry Scotland there were three
And they did cast lots which of them should go
And turn robber all on the salt sea
Henry explains that he has taken to piracy “for to maintain my two brothers and me”, although his first victims receive little sympathy.
After sailing through a winter’s night, Henry spots a large merchant ship heading towards London and demands its surrender. The merchant captain refuses, prompting Henry to threaten the vessel with cannon fire and send everyone aboard into the sea.
The merchant crew still refuses to surrender.
Then the fun really starts.
Then broadside and broadside and at it they went
For fully two hours or three
Till Henry Martin gave to them the deathshot
And straight to the bottom went she
There are no survivors, miraculous rescues or last-minute interventions. Henry Martin simply sinks the merchant vessel and apparently kills everyone aboard.
News of the disaster eventually reaches England:
Bad news, bad news to old England came
Bad news to fair London town
There’s been a rich vessel and she’s cast away
And all of her merry men drowned
Henry Martin survived through oral tradition in Scotland and elsewhere before enjoying another life during the 20th-century folk revival. It is now catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 104 and has been recorded by numerous traditional and modern performers.
A.L. Lloyd recorded the song, while Joan Baez included a haunting version of Henry Martin on her debut album, Joan Baez, in 1960. Her recording helped introduce the centuries-old Scottish ballad to a much wider international audience.
The song has continued to attract folk performers because there is very little wasted in its story. Henry becomes a pirate, challenges a merchant ship, fights it and sends the vessel and its crew to the bottom.
Behind that simple tale, however, stands a real Scottish privateer killed more than 500 years ago.
Sir Andrew Barton became a legend, the legend became a ballad, and eventually the ballad gave us Henry Martin.
For anyone who likes traditional folk music with pirates, sea battles and murder, it is difficult to ask for much more.
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