DESCRIPTION:
Kathryn Tickell and Corrina Hewat's arrangement of the traditional songs "Here's the Tender Coming" and "Captain Bover".
Kathryn Tickell : Viola and vocals.
Corrina Hewat : Scottish Harp and vocals.
Corrina Hewat comments :- "Press Gangs were greatly feared on Tyneside, as they used cruelly harsh and oppressive measures to recruit seamen, inevitably meeting with resistance and resulting in riots and bloodshed. Even the keelmen of Sandgate, Newcastle, highly skilled and sought-after boatmen who handled the movement of coal from the riverside to ships on the River Tyne, were not safe and lived in constant fear of the ‘Regulation Officer’ Captain Bover and his Press Gang who operated on the Newcastle quayside. Captain Bover died in 1792 and was commander of the Press Gang on the Tyne for many years. Evidence suggests that he did his best to carry out a harsh job as leniently as he could, but this was probably of little comfort to those affected".

"Here's the Tender Coming".

Here's the tender coming, pressing all the men,
Oh dear hinny, what'll we do then?
Here's the tender coming, off at Shield's Bar,
Here's the tender coming, full of men of war.

Here's the tender coming, stealing of me dear,
Oh dear lad, they'll ship you out to here.
They'll ship you foreign, that is what it means,
Here's the tender coming, full of red marines.

Hey, bonny lassie, let's gan to the Lawe,
And see the tender lying, off at Shield's Bar.
With her colours flying and her anchor at the bow,
They taken me bonny laddie, best of all the crew.

Here's the tender coming, pressing all the men,
Oh dear hinny, what'll we do then?
Here's the tender coming, off at Shield's Bar,
Here's the tender coming, full of men of war.

"Captain Bover".

Where hast tha been, my canny hinny?
Where hast tha been, my winsome man?
Where hast tha been, my canny hinny?
Where hast tha been, my winsome man?

I've been tae the nor'ard, cruisin' back and for'ard,
I've been tae the nor'ard, cruisin' sair and lang.
I've been tae the nor'ard, cruisin' back and for'ard,
But dare not come ashore for Bover and his gang.