I started to sing
Here's the Tender Coming on joining the
Tyneside Maritime Chorus in early 2011 and very much enjoying the bass part.
This song can be found in Roy Palmer's
The Valiant Sailor. In the sleeve notes for the same-named recording where it was sung by
Frankie Armstrong, Roy Palmer wrote:
This poignant song comes from the Northeast. Newcastle and Sunderland were second only to London in providing men for the navy during the French wars. Resistance was sometimes violent, with women playing a prominent part. The Lawe [referred to in the 4th verse] is a high vantage point, whence the hated tender could be seen lying out beyond the harbour bar. The pressing tenders were like floating prisons, where "recruits" were assembled before being distributed to the various ships.
The
Northumbrian Minstrelsy also includes the melody and 1st verse of this song, more is to be found in John Stokoe's
Songs and Ballads of Northern England (1893).
This song may be found in the Tyneside Maritime Chorus songbook