Yankee Jack

Yankee Jack aka John Short (1839 – 1933)

John Short, nicknamed “Yankee Jack” by his fellow townsfolk in Watchet, was an active sailor and a shantyman.  In the 1860s, during the American Civil War, some of the ships on which he crewed ran the Confederate blockades, earning him his sobriquet.  For 50 years he had an active life at sea and on land, and, later, he was introduced to Cecil Sharp, a key collector of folk songs and shanties.  They collaborated together for Sharp’s collection, adding 57 shanties.  (Sharp published his collection in 1914 as English Folk Chanteys.)  Later, Short met Sir Richard Runciman Terry, also a collector of shanties, who worked with Yankee Jack to add to the songs included in his books, The Shanty Book Part I (1921) and The Shanty Book Part II (1926.  (In 2008 the two books were assembled into a single volume by Fireship Press, called The Way of the Ship:  Sailors, Shanties and Shantymen.)

Between 2011 and 2012 three albums were recorded of the collaboration of songs between Cecil Sharp and John Short:  Short Sharp Shanties:  Sea Songs of a Watchet Sailor.  Contributing to this audio project were Jim Mageean, Jeff Warner, Keith Kendrick, Jackie Oates, Roger Watson, Sam Lee, Brian Willoughby, Tom Brown, Barbara Brown, and Doug Bailey.

In 2008 a bronze statue of Yankee Jack was unveiled on the Esplanade in Watchet.  Love Watchet published a very good article about Short and the Statue.

In 2023 a new musical called Shantyman premiered at the Tenterden Folk Festival; it is about the life of John Short.  The show went on tour in 2024, beginning at Chippenham Folk Festival and Stony Live.  It features the talent of Keith Kendrick, Sylvia Needham, Dick Stephens, Denise Dryburgh and Phil Underwood.