Every other month, on one blustery Saturday evening or another, a boisterous chorus arises from the shores of Drakes Beach. Some of the singers sound choir-worthy, and some sound awful. But tone deaf or pitch-perfect, they are all having a good time, because not even the grumpiest of curmudgeons could have a bad time singing a sea shanty.
“You don’t need to be an expert singer or even know the lyrics,” said Fiona O’Kelly, the park ranger who organizes the singalongs. “We’re very informal and very supportive. We just laugh a lot and have a really fun, low-key time.”
Ms. O’Kelly is a rosy-cheeked, raven-haired lady of 47 who can still pass for a bonny lass. (She got carded at the Palace Market recently.) She’s loved sea shanties for as long as she can remember and began attending singalongs several years ago at the Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco. At the time, they were held on the tall ship Balcutha, until so many people started coming that they couldn’t fit on the ship.
About a year ago, Ms. O’Kelly organized a similar event as part of the Point Reyes National Seashore’s ranger program. Because the threat of Covid-19 still lingered, she held the singalongs outdoors. The next session is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m., unless rain cancels it.
The wannabe buccaneers gather in the courtyard of the Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center at Drakes Beach—close enough to the shore to hear the blustery wind but not be battered by it. Close enough to hear the crashing surf but not feel its spray.
“With the ocean being right there with the slamming waves, it couldn’t be a more perfect location,” Ms. O’Kelly said. “Sometimes it’s really foggy and cold, and we just bundle up.”
In any case, singing songs of the sea gets the blood flowing.
“It’s wonderful being at Drakes Beach at dusk in the fog,” said Elizabeth Ptak, who attended her first singalong recently. “Even those of us who were new and shy could enjoy it because there were some other singers there who knew what they were doing.”
To spare the group from any errant notes that might emanate from her larynx, Ms. Ptak just mouthed the lyrics. Her timid masquerade did not diminish her fun.
She particularly enjoyed the group’s rousing rendition of “Wellerman,” a shanty that went viral during the pandemic when a young Scottish singer named Nathan Evans posted it on TikTok.
It’s a New Zealand folk song about a ship that provides provisions to whalers at sea and to the crew on shore that cuts whale blubber into strips to be rendered into oil, a process known as “tounging.” The whalers were paid in clothing, spirits and tobacco.
Like all shanties, “Wellerman” has a rousing chorus that is repeated over and over again:
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tounging is done
We’ll take our leave and go
Participants in the Drakes Bay shanties—also known as chanteys—are welcome to bring songs to sing. Ms. O’Kelly posts the lyrics on a white board so everyone can join in on the chorus. The verses are generally sung by one person—the shanty man, whom Ms. O’Kelly calls the shanty person.
Sea shanties were work songs sung by the crew to relieve the tedium of whatever task they were performing and to keep them in rhythm while hoisting a sail, raising an anchor or cranking a winch.
“They were songs to sing in time to keep spirits and efficiency up,” Ms. O’Kelly said. “They’d sing them while doing hard manual tasks that require people to be in time with each other. The shanty man would sing the verses and the men would sing on the chorus.”
A talented shanty man was creative and able to come up with lyrics on the spot.
“It is said that a good shanty man was worth seven or eight deckhands, and they would often not have to do the work or might get extra rations of rum,” Ms. O’Kelly said.
As a child growing up in Millbrae, Ms. O’Kelly sang in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music choir. Her dad’s family is from County Cork in Ireland, and he played a lot of folk music at home.
Before becoming a ranger two years ago, Ms. O’Kelly worked as an educator for the Point Reyes National Seashore Association for 16 years.
“She’s a community treasure,” said Carlos Porrata, an Inverness resident who attended a recent singalong at Drakes Beach. “We’re lucky to have had her here for so many years.”
As it was for Ms. Ptak, the session was a first for Mr. Porrata, who found it easy to find the rhythm and flow with the group.
“It was delightful to see so many people there just going at it,” he said. “There’s a big following.”
The sessions are open to people of all ages, but the lyrics are sometimes bawdy, so parents beware.
The next singalong is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 18 from 5 to 6:30 p.m., weather permitting. You can RSVP to fiona_o’[email protected] or call the Bear Valley Visitor Center for more information and to confirm the event at (415) 464.5100.