287

CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW

Bagford Ballads, I, 65.

Other black-letter copies are Pepys, IV, 202, No 195; Roxburghe, III, 56; Euing, No 108; British Museum, 112. f. 44 (19). This copy is printed in Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, p. 59, Bell’s Early Ballads, p. 167, Ebsworth’s Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 426.

There are Aldermary Churchyard copies, as Roxburghe Ballads, III, 652, 861; Scottish stall-copies, as Greenock, W. Scott, Stirling, M. Randall; English, by Pitts, Seven Dials, one of which is printed in Logan’s Pedlar’s Pack, p. 1.

A copy in Buchan’s MSS, II, 245, is nearly the old broadside; another, II, 417, is the stall-copy. Kinloch, MSS, V, 109, II, 265, has the stall-copy from oral transmission (with Weir for Ward). Rev. S. Baring-Gould has recently taken down this ballad (much changed by tradition) in the west of England.

Captain Ward, a famous rover, wishes to make his peace with the king, and offers thirty ton of gold as “ransom” for himself and his men. The king will not trust a man who has proved false to France and to Spain, and sends the Rainbow, with five hundred men, against Ward. The Rainbow has easy work with Dutch, Spaniards, and French, but her fifty brass pieces have no effect on Ward; though the Rainbow is brass without, he is steel within, 82(suggested by ‘Sir Andrew Barton,’A271,B251, ‘He is brass within and steel without).’ The Rainbow retires, and reports to the king that Ward is too strong to be taken. The king laments that he has lost three captains, any one of whom would have brought Ward in: George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, †1605, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, †1606 (both of whom had a part in the defeat of the Armada), and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, †1601.

The Rainbow was the name of one of Drake’s four ships in his expedition against Cadiz in 1587. The Rainbow is mentioned very often from 1589; as in The Manuscripts of the Earl Cowper, vol. i, Hist. MSS Commission, XIIth Report, Appendix, Part I; Index in Part III of the same, p. 296.

John Ward, an Englishman of Kent, is said to have commenced ‘rover’ about 1604, by inducing the crew of a king’s ship in which he had some place to turn pirates under his command. His race, though eventful, was, naturally enough, not long. He seems not to be heard of after 1609, in which year Ward and his colleague, Dansekar, are spoken of as the “two late famous pirates.” See Mr Ebsworth’s preface to the ballad, VI, 423 ff., founded on Andrew Barker’s book about Ward and Dansekar, published in the year last named.

Two other ballad-histories, ‘The Seamen’s Song of Captain Ward’ and ‘The Seamen’s Song of Dansekar’ (i. e. Dansekar and Ward), entered in the Stationers’ Registers July 3, 1609, are given by Mr Ebsworth, VI, 784, 423.

1Strike up, you lusty gallants, with musick and sound of drum,For we have descryed a rover, upon the sea is come;His name is Captain Ward, right well it doth appear,There has not been such a rover found out this thousand year.2For he hath sent unto our king, the sixth of January,Desiring that he might come in, with all his company:‘And if your king will let me come till I my tale have told,I will bestow for my ransome full thirty tun of gold.’3‘O nay! O nay!’ then said our king, ‘O nay! this may not be,To yield to such a rover my self will not agree;He hath deceivd the French-man, likewise the King of Spain,And how can he be true to me that hath been false to twain?’4With that our king provided a ship of worthy fame,Rainbow she is called, if you would know her name;Now the gallant Rainbow she rowes upon the sea,Five hundred gallant seamen to bear her company.5The Dutch-man and the Spaniard she made them for to flye,Also the bonny French-man, as she met him on the sea:When as this gallant Rainbow did come where Ward did lye,‘Where is the captain of this ship?’ this gallant Rainbow did cry.6‘O that am I,’ says Captain Ward, ‘there’s no man bids me lye,And if thou art the king’s fair ship, thou art welcome unto me:’‘I’le tell thee what,’ says Rainbow, ‘our king is in great griefThat thou shouldst lye upon the sea and play the arrant thief,7‘And will not let our merchants ships pass as they did before;Such tydings to our king is come, which grieves his heart full sore.’With that this gallant Rainbow she shot, out of her pride,Full fifty gallant brass pieces, charged on every side.8And yet these gallant shooters prevailed not a pin,Though they were brass on the out-side, brave Ward was steel within;‘Shoot on, shoot on,’ says Captain Ward, ‘your sport well pleaseth me,And he that first gives over shall yield unto the sea.9‘I never wrongd an English ship, but Turk and King of Spain,For and the jovial Dutch-man as I met on the main.If I had known your king but one two years before,I would have savd brave Essex life, whose death did grieve me sore.10‘Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me,If he reign king of all the land, I will reign king at sea.’With that the gallant Rainbow shot, and shot, and shot in vain,And left the rover’s company, and returnd home again.11‘Our royal king of England, your ship’s returnd again,For Ward’s ship is so strong it never will be tane:’‘O everlasting!’ says our king, ‘I have lost jewels three,Which would have gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.12‘The first was Lord Clifford, Earl of Cumberland;The second was the Lord Mountjoy, as you shall understand;The third was brave Essex, from field would never flee;Which would a gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.’

Strike up, you lusty gallants, with musick and sound of drum,

For we have descryed a rover, upon the sea is come;

His name is Captain Ward, right well it doth appear,

There has not been such a rover found out this thousand year.

2For he hath sent unto our king, the sixth of January,Desiring that he might come in, with all his company:‘And if your king will let me come till I my tale have told,I will bestow for my ransome full thirty tun of gold.’

For he hath sent unto our king, the sixth of January,

Desiring that he might come in, with all his company:

‘And if your king will let me come till I my tale have told,

I will bestow for my ransome full thirty tun of gold.’

3‘O nay! O nay!’ then said our king, ‘O nay! this may not be,To yield to such a rover my self will not agree;He hath deceivd the French-man, likewise the King of Spain,And how can he be true to me that hath been false to twain?’

‘O nay! O nay!’ then said our king, ‘O nay! this may not be,

To yield to such a rover my self will not agree;

He hath deceivd the French-man, likewise the King of Spain,

And how can he be true to me that hath been false to twain?’

4With that our king provided a ship of worthy fame,Rainbow she is called, if you would know her name;Now the gallant Rainbow she rowes upon the sea,Five hundred gallant seamen to bear her company.

With that our king provided a ship of worthy fame,

Rainbow she is called, if you would know her name;

Now the gallant Rainbow she rowes upon the sea,

Five hundred gallant seamen to bear her company.

5The Dutch-man and the Spaniard she made them for to flye,Also the bonny French-man, as she met him on the sea:When as this gallant Rainbow did come where Ward did lye,‘Where is the captain of this ship?’ this gallant Rainbow did cry.

The Dutch-man and the Spaniard she made them for to flye,

Also the bonny French-man, as she met him on the sea:

When as this gallant Rainbow did come where Ward did lye,

‘Where is the captain of this ship?’ this gallant Rainbow did cry.

6‘O that am I,’ says Captain Ward, ‘there’s no man bids me lye,And if thou art the king’s fair ship, thou art welcome unto me:’‘I’le tell thee what,’ says Rainbow, ‘our king is in great griefThat thou shouldst lye upon the sea and play the arrant thief,

‘O that am I,’ says Captain Ward, ‘there’s no man bids me lye,

And if thou art the king’s fair ship, thou art welcome unto me:’

‘I’le tell thee what,’ says Rainbow, ‘our king is in great grief

That thou shouldst lye upon the sea and play the arrant thief,

7‘And will not let our merchants ships pass as they did before;Such tydings to our king is come, which grieves his heart full sore.’With that this gallant Rainbow she shot, out of her pride,Full fifty gallant brass pieces, charged on every side.

‘And will not let our merchants ships pass as they did before;

Such tydings to our king is come, which grieves his heart full sore.’

With that this gallant Rainbow she shot, out of her pride,

Full fifty gallant brass pieces, charged on every side.

8And yet these gallant shooters prevailed not a pin,Though they were brass on the out-side, brave Ward was steel within;‘Shoot on, shoot on,’ says Captain Ward, ‘your sport well pleaseth me,And he that first gives over shall yield unto the sea.

And yet these gallant shooters prevailed not a pin,

Though they were brass on the out-side, brave Ward was steel within;

‘Shoot on, shoot on,’ says Captain Ward, ‘your sport well pleaseth me,

And he that first gives over shall yield unto the sea.

9‘I never wrongd an English ship, but Turk and King of Spain,For and the jovial Dutch-man as I met on the main.If I had known your king but one two years before,I would have savd brave Essex life, whose death did grieve me sore.

‘I never wrongd an English ship, but Turk and King of Spain,

For and the jovial Dutch-man as I met on the main.

If I had known your king but one two years before,

I would have savd brave Essex life, whose death did grieve me sore.

10‘Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me,If he reign king of all the land, I will reign king at sea.’With that the gallant Rainbow shot, and shot, and shot in vain,And left the rover’s company, and returnd home again.

‘Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me,

If he reign king of all the land, I will reign king at sea.’

With that the gallant Rainbow shot, and shot, and shot in vain,

And left the rover’s company, and returnd home again.

11‘Our royal king of England, your ship’s returnd again,For Ward’s ship is so strong it never will be tane:’‘O everlasting!’ says our king, ‘I have lost jewels three,Which would have gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.

‘Our royal king of England, your ship’s returnd again,

For Ward’s ship is so strong it never will be tane:’

‘O everlasting!’ says our king, ‘I have lost jewels three,

Which would have gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.

12‘The first was Lord Clifford, Earl of Cumberland;The second was the Lord Mountjoy, as you shall understand;The third was brave Essex, from field would never flee;Which would a gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.’

‘The first was Lord Clifford, Earl of Cumberland;

The second was the Lord Mountjoy, as you shall understand;

The third was brave Essex, from field would never flee;

Which would a gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.’

The Famous Sea-Fight between Captain Ward and the Rainbow. To the tune of Captain Ward, etc. Licensed and entered.London, Printed by and for W. Onley, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Pye-corner and London-bridge.Dated at the British Museum 1680 at the earliest.113. Everlasting shame,in the Scottish stall-copies.A collation of Roxburghe, III, 56,shows only variations too trivial to note.

The Famous Sea-Fight between Captain Ward and the Rainbow. To the tune of Captain Ward, etc. Licensed and entered.

London, Printed by and for W. Onley, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Pye-corner and London-bridge.Dated at the British Museum 1680 at the earliest.

113. Everlasting shame,in the Scottish stall-copies.

A collation of Roxburghe, III, 56,shows only variations too trivial to note.

Back to Index Next