Meet the Crews

We are a group of women from Salisbury who have fun singing and sharing our love for shanties and songs of the sea. Our aim is to fundraise for charity whenever we can and engage with local community groups

Dave, Andy, John, Tony, and Stephen were all students at the London Nautical School. Several went to sea after leaving school and some have crewed together on the tall ships Sorlandet and the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. And if there are any ex LNS in the audience, raise your voice and sing along.
The LNS was created as part of the Board Of Trade report’s recommendations following the sinking of the Titanic. As for the name - Ice is obvious, but Fire comes from a Channel 4 programme that suggested that there was a bunker fire in one of the coal holds from the time the Titanic left England. 1915 – the year the school came into existence (not the band).

Late one summer evening, on the north-facing slopes of The Mendips, several miles from the Somerset coast, High and Dry was born. Half a dozen guys, inspired by the success of The Fisherman’s Friends and enjoying a round of shanties, decided it might be possible to entertain the locals. And so it began...
We’ve been singing together for over 10 years now and we enjoy getting together for a beer, a chat and to hone our singing skills and harmonies around some shanties and songs of the sea. The line-up has changed over the years and on a very good day we might be 12 strong but generally we perform in a group of 6 to 10.
We have earned thousands of pounds for local charities and good causes, with our main fund-raiser being the Bristol Shanty Festival, which has so far raised about £21,000. We have a wide repertoire of shanties and nautical ballads ranging from traditional and melancholic through to comedic and sometimes bawdy!

Missin’ Tackle Shanty Crew are a Brixham based crew and in their tenth year of singing. Coming from very varying backgrounds it is their love of music and the sea that has brought them together. One of the crew was trained as a chorister whilst three members are also current members of local Male Voice Choirs. With a wide repertoire of old and new songs their enthusiasm comes over singing both well-known shanties and songs of the sea as well as lesser-known tunes and even a few of their own. The crew look forward to visiting the ‘Bristol Sea Shanty Festival’ to meet up with old friends as well as making new on

The Out Of Tunas rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the pandemic. A gentlemen’s club with a difference, now recording their own original songs. Sometimes described as ‘the bad boys of shanty’ or ‘a drinking club with a shanty problem’, we will soon be coming to a festival near you and playing through speakers at full volume!

Piratitude, Bristol's best folk-rock pirate band, plays rousing, rootsy, roof-raisers, with singalong folk favourites, affectionate reinventions of classic tunes, a shanty or two, and our own original pirate material. Songs of the sea, of love, loss, travel, transportation, rum, voyages, battles, bravery, and the joys of drinking. All delivered with trademark energy and humour, plus bags of audience participation and antics. And all in full pirate costume, naturally!

Poole Me Hearties hail from an ancient pirate’s port on the south coast of England. They play traditional sea shanties and other seafaring songs in a unique style with a range of acoustic instruments including accordion, fiddle, flute and mandolin. Combined with an array of harmonies, they sound like no other shanty band.  Whether at festivals, sailing clubs or down on Poole Quay, their live performances are where they are really at their best. Their infectious enthusiasm encourages audiences to sing along to the catchy choruses, and they deliver bags of fun as well as a few surprises along the way.

We are a crew of mates who just love to sing traditional working shanties along with more modern maritime songs and Bristol sea shanties. Our mantra is "Fun and Friendship, Melody and Mirth"; we sing anything with a good tune or a good lyric, but our overarching aim is to enjoy ourselves and entertain. We give our time for free to support Festivals or charity fundraising events.

Slugbeard are a 4 piece Bristol shanty band, who bring a playful twist to traditional shanties and sea songs, blending humor and harmony in every performance. With guitar, bass and fiddle, they bring their own flavour to a mix of traditional shanties and nautical originals, with a few (sea themed) covers thrown in for good measure.

Formed in 2023, The Standing Stones are a London-based singing group. From cozy pubs… to ever-so-slightly-bigger pubs, they enjoy singing haunting old folk songs as well as coastal classics. Their mission? To prove that singing is good for you. And singing with others is even better.

Bristol’s Storm Force 10 shanty crew, keeping the history of ships and sailing alive, singing songs from all around the world with special fondness for local, Bristol, tunes and tales. Some songs are old, and familiar and some are brand new written by the crew

The 85'ers are 6 active RNLI lifeboat crew. We & the station are based in Portishead, North Somerset. Formed during 2020/21 we sang at the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival 2022 & loved it. Looking forward to singing at our local shanty festival in Bristol again!

The Barnacle Buoys was formed in 2013. We are a not-for-profit group of a cappella sea shanty singers based in North Somerset. We exist to enjoy our craft, entertain our audiences and raise money for our chosen charities.  Our principle charities have been the Childrens Hospice South West and the RNLI. We give our time freely to perform at a variety of functions and festivals across the South West and, in return, we have a great time; we hope our audiences do too!

The Beach'd Buoys, Weston-super-Mare’s acclaimed Shanty Band has been entertaining Somerset and South West audiences since 2018. We have been resurrected from jetsam and flotsam found in and around the bay. We have no connection with the similarly named group, as we are cheaper and younger (in most cases). The ‘Crew’ originally come from varies parts of the country such as the North West, Black country, Birmingham, London and the South East and met by pure chance in a pub in Kewstoke. Two of the ‘crew’ are appearing in the forthcoming film Fishermen Friends 2 as ‘extras’ (to be released in 2022) - they are 3rd and 4th haddock from the right........... We do not charge for the gigs as we rely on the generosity of our audiences. All donations and proceeds go to the Wraxall Children’s Hospice in Somerset

The shanty was a work song, designed to impart rhythm and to motivate sailors for the strenuous physical exertion required to sail the wind-driven packet and clipper ships of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  By contrast, the Frampton Shantymen have no tradition of seafaring and we strenuously avoid physical exertion. Also, only a couple of us can still remember the late nineteenth century.  Nevertheless, we continue to enjoy sharing our shanties and other vaguely sea-related songs with anyone willing to listen (or, preferably, to join in).

Established over 30 years ago The Harries are renowned for their commitment to promoting the maritime history of Bristol as well their harmonies, humour and audience engagement. Seven performers sing with great joie de vivre un-accompanied or with guitar and fiddle

The Rusty Tubs are a mongrel band of 9 (or so) , A Cappella, sea shanty singing Jack Tars. We sing traditional sea shanties, songs of the sea, military songs and folk songs. All on traditional themes: drinking, shagging, not shagging, working and getting mistreated, fighting, tragedy, poverty and general skullduggery. We’re loud, rough and ready, with a punk attitude. Drunken revelry is a certainty.

We are a 4 piece a-Capella shanty crew based in North Bristol, on the banks of the mighty river Severn. You can find us singing Shanties, Songs of the Sea, and some other Folk songs all across the South West - we regularly attend St Ives, Mevagissey, Tywardreath, Teignmouth, Weston-Super-Mare, and our home town Bristol to name but a few.

The Steepholmers are a sea shanty group that formed in Weston-super-Mare in early summer 2018, with a little help from a certain popular video game with a nautical theme (seriously!). We meet every Wednesday for rehearsal and perform a range of popular sea shanties and sea songs; always remaining keen on learning new ones to enhance our repertoire. Some of us like dressing up a bit when the occasion requires - think tricorn hats and the 'Poldark' look you won't be too far off. We perform in public for community groups, in pubs, in bars, and at Sea Shanty Festivals around the UK. We play every 3rd Wednesday with invited friends our regular monthly 'Shanty Night' in Fork 'n' Ale, Weston-super-Mare

Them Bristow Girls are the first all-female North Bristol/South Gloucestershire based shanty crew. We follow the steps of other well established all-female shanty crews from around the country, after starting in 2023.In a world mainly dominated by men we are a proud mix of women who share a love of singing traditional shanties, forebitters and all sorts of nautical themed songs - if it mentions water, we’ll take it - and want our voices to resonate far and wide. Our crew is comprised of healthcare workers, school workers, nhs consultant, charity workers, life-enjoyers (aka retired) and even a professional tall ship sailor