Estren dyworth an mor – Stranger from the sea
A song in the Cornish language written in collaboration with Pol Hodge from the Cornish Language Partnership. It’s a retelling of ‘The Pilot’s Ghost Story’ set in Hayle, collected by Robert Hunt in ‘Popular Romances of the West of England’. Here are the lyrics, the story is below – do have a look because it includes some lovely details and dialect that we couldn’t fit into the song lyrics! The song is recorded with Emam Packer on our Salt & Sky EP, released in 2015.
Song lyrics
| Kernewek: Estren dyworth an mor My eth dhe’n kay rag gweles mar pe hobbel*, Y hwelis vy den ryb An Karow Gwynn. Yn-medhav vy, “Gorthugher da, piw os ta?” Yth esa marnas taw, y worthyp tynn. | English: Stranger from the Sea I went down to the quay to see if there was hobble* I saw a man by the White Hart. I said to him, “Good evening, who are you?” There was only silence – his tense reply. |
| Wel an skruth! Goos-kowla, kig-kosa, blew sevel Ev a dreylyas fas hagar dhymm vy Gans barv gommonys Kig hanter bryjys ‘vel diwdhorn benenes golghi… Estren dyworth an mor | Well the shock! Blood-curdling, flesh-crawling, hair-raising, He turned his ugly face to me His beard was covered in seaweed His flesh parboiled Like washerwomen’s fists… Stranger from the sea |
| Y hassis vy rag gweres gans an lester Y kerdhis vy hag ev ow holya vy Y ferkis ev fest euthyk drog y semblant Gans own my a fias, ow krena di. | I left to get help with the boat I walked – and he followed me! I noticed his awful appearance I fled, shaking with fear |
| Wel an skruth! Goos-kowla, kig-kosa, blew sevel Pan wrug vy drehedhes an chi ‘th esa ev ena An estren mor ma Minhwarthin tamm tebel ‘ tevri… Estren dyworth an mor Estren dyworth an mor Estren dyworth an mor Estren dyworth an mor | Well the shock! Blood-curdling, flesh-crawling, hair-raising, When I reached the house He was already there, This sea stranger! With a smile that was a little bit evil… Stranger from the sea Stranger from the sea Stranger from the sea Stranger from the sea |
| Yth esa tros y’n chi, yth entris evy Tra vyth o klewys, oll o da ha brav An ober meur rag gorra Sally salow Mes kertys ‘ves ha my yn gweli-klav! | There was a noise in the house – I went in There was nothing to hear – everything was fine We went back to work putting the Sally safe But I was carted away and put in a sick-bed! |
| Wel an skruth! Goos-kowla, kig-kosa, blew sevel Tri dydh hag ow gols o gyllys! An blew dastevys Fest gwynn avel gwrys** ‘Ha hwegh mis klav ev yw kablys… Estren dyworth an mor | Well the shock! Blood-curdling, flesh-crawling, hair-raising, In three days my hair was gone! The hair regrew As white as crystal** I was sick for six months, and he is to blame… Stranger from the sea |
* Hobble is the term for an unlicensed pilot boat for towing larger ships.
** We were quite pleased that this fitted the song because it harks back to some of the earliest written literature in Cornish – the phrase is found in Bewnans Meryasek , written in 1504 but probably copied from an earlier document.
The Pilot’s Ghost Story
The Pilot’s Ghost Story as printed in Robert Hunt’s ‘Popular Romances of the West of England’:
THE PILOT’S GHOST STORY.
“On a sudden shrilly sounding,
Hideous yells and shrieks were heard;
Then each heart with fear confounding,
A sad troop of ghosts appear’d,
All in dreary hammocks shrouded,
Which for winding-sheets they wore.”
Admiral Hosier’s Ghost.
I PREFER giving this story in the words in which it was communicated. For its singular character, it is a ghost story well worth preserving :– “Just seventeen years since, I went down on the wharf from my house one night about twelve and one in the morning, to see whether there was any ‘hobble,’ and found a sloop, the Sally of St Ives (the Sally was wrecked at St Ives one Saturday afternoon in the spring of 1862), in the bay, bound for Hayle. When I got by the White Hart public-house, I saw a man leaning against a post on the wharf;–I spoke to him, wished him good morning, and asked him what o’clock it was, but to no purpose. I was not to be easily frightened, for I didn’t believe in ghosts; and finding I got no answer to my repeated inquiries, I approached close to him and said, ‘Thee ‘rt a queer sort of fellow, not to speak; I ‘d speak to the devil, if he were to speak to me. Who art a at all? thee’st needn’t think to frighten me; that thee wasn’t do, if thou wert twice so ugly; who art a at all?.’ He turned his great ugly face on me, glared abroad his great eyes, opened his – mouth, and it was a mouth sure nuff. Then I saw pieces of sea-weed and bits of sticks in his whiskers; the flesh of his face and hands were parboiled, just like a woman’s hands after a good day’s washing. Well, I did not like his looks a bit, and sheered off; but he followed close by my side, and I could hear the water squashing in his shoes every step he took. Well, I stopped a bit, and thought to be a little bit civil to him, and spoke to him again, but no answer. I then thought I would go to seek for another of our crew, and knock him up to get the vessel, and had got about fifty or sixty yards, when I turned to see if he was following me, but saw him where I left him. Fearing he would come after me, I ran for my life the few steps that I had to go. But when I got to the door, to my horror there stood the man in the door grinning horribly. I shook like an aspen-leaf; my hat lifted from my head; the sweat boiled out of me. What to do I didn’t know, and in the house there was such a row, as if everybody was breaking up everything. After a bit I went in, for the door was ‘on the latch,’–that is, not locked,–and called the captain of the boat, and got light, but everything was all right, nor had he heard any noise. We went out aboard of the Sally, and I put her into Hayle, but I felt ill enough to be in bed. I left the vessel to come home as soon as I could, but it took me four hours to walk two miles, and I had to lie down in the road, and was taken home to St Ives in a cart; as far as the Terrace from there I was carried home by my brothers, and put to bed. Three days afterwards all my hair fell off as if I had had my head shaved. The roots, and for about half an inch from the roots, being quite white. I was ill six months, and the doctor’s bill was £4, 17s. 6d. for attendance and medicine. So you see I have reason to believe in the existence of spirits as much as Mr Wesley had. My hair grew again, and twelve months after I had as good a head of dark-brown hair as ever.” [a]
[a] “The man has still a good thick head of hair.–C. F. S.”