Dominic Dowsey-Magog

“We were informed last night that Dom passed away suddenly at work. Dom will be remembered with his singing with The Shanty Crew, Five Men not Called Matt and others. He travelled extensively singing his shanties around the world.  He was a big man with a big voice and an extensive knowledge of shanties and other songs, and didn’t have a nasty bone in his body.  He will be greatly missed wherever there is a song to be sung.  RIP Dom.”

— Tim from Mudcat Café

“Dominic ran the bar at a hospital in Northampton, UK, and while there suffered a massive aneurysm, dying immediately, even though there were medical staff on hand. Very sad.”

— Anthony Goodenough

Dowsey-Magog sang with Chris Roche for 37 years, in both The Shanty Crew and The Shanty 2.

Dom’s brother, Paul Dowsey-Magog, also shared on Mudcat Café that Chris Roche took some of Dom’s ashes to the Baltic sea.

“And with real Tall Ship sailing experience we have The Shanty Crew who came into being in 1976 when Chris Roche the founder combined the words “shanty and crew” ships having crew, and crew singing shanties.

“Presently Chris is singing with Dominic Dowsey-Magog. Chris and Dom sometimes known as The Shanty 2 have sung together since at least the early 1980`s. They sing deep water shanties, and a further repertoire of general sea songs and forebitters. Both sing from the experience of having known the late Stan Hugill, the last of the deep water sailors to have sung as a shanty-man and the world’s greatest collector of them.

“Chris and Dom have both sailed in traditional ships; Chris to Cape Horn, and Dom in the great inland sea the Baltic and the Irish Sea. Salty tales abound when the lads sing. They have three published CDs, all complete with books of words histories and backgrounds. So no excuse for not joining in then!”

— From a 2015 post by the Gloucester Shanty Festival