Gerry Smyth

The sea is beautiful and alluring, but it is also dangerous and deadly. Above all, it is unknowable and untameable. Storytelling offered our ancestors a means to understand and interact with the natural world, and in time these stories coalesced into the mythological systems of the world. The ocean features in every mythological system in history. To reflect and explore...

From the earliest of voyages, seafarers have sung, whether they are homeward bound or rolling in a merciless sea towards an unknown horizon. The shouts and cries of these sailors' shanties provided a musical rhythm to their work, and such 'concerted' efforts improved efficiency as anchors were raised, sails hoisted, and bilge water pumped. Boredom was allayed, concentration increased, and...