Learning Resources

London Steamer

The London Steamer comes from the songs of Sam Larner, who was born in 1878 in Winterton, Norfolk. Signed up as a ‘Peggy’ or cabin boy at only 12 years old, Sam was involved in herring fishing until his forced retirement in 1933. Towards the end of the century, traditional herring fishing techniques were revolutionised and in 1899 Sam got a job on The Lottie – one of the ‘newfangled’ steam drifters. He has said that the work on board these vessels was ‘like heaven’ in comparison to the old boats; that steam drifters were ‘ideal for the job’, but not, as the song declares, without their dangers.

This song was part of Singing Histories, a national project led by Sing London to create booklets and resources containing traditional folk songs and history from eight areas across England.

The Singing Histories - London illustrated song book (which includes this song) can be downloaded from the document tab at the top of this panel.  Audio recording(s) of this song are also available from the audio tab.