Synopsis

The ballad describes a ship that left port, its misadventure and eventual sinking. The moral of the song is that mermaids are a sign of an impending shipwreck.
​Three parallel stanzas most often follow describing how three of the crew members, contemplating impending disaster, would rather be somewhere else than on the ocean floor; for example, the cook would rather be with his pots and pans.

The Mermaid

UP and spoke the bonny mermaid, 
Wi the comb and the glass in her hand; 
Says, Cheer up your hearts, my mariners all, 
You are not very far from the land. 
And the raging seas do foam, foam, 
And the stormy winds do blow, 
While we poor sailors must mount to the top, 
When the landsmen they lye low. 
 
Out and spoke the captain of our ship, 
And a fine little man was he; 
‘O I’ve a wife in fair London town, 
And a widow this night she shall be.’ 
 
Out and spoke the mate of our ship, 
And a tight little man was he; 
‘O I’ve a wife in Dublin city, 
And a widow this night she shall be.’ 
 
Out and spoke our second mate, 
And a clever little man was he; 
‘Oh I have a wife in Greenoch town, 
And a widow this night she shall be.’ 
 
Out and spoke our little prentice boy, 
And a fine little boy was he; 
‘Oh I am sorry for my mother,’ he said, 
‘As you are for your wives all three.’ 
 
Out and spoke the cook of our ship, 
And a rusty old dog was he; 
Says, I am as sorry for my pats and my pans 
As you are for your wives all three. ​

Annotating the Ballad

Thumbnailing

Research

caravel ships

Ceasg

The ceasg is a mermaid in Scottish folklore with the upper body of a beautiful woman merging with the tail of a grilse (a young salmon)

The third page of the Knight's Ghost was inspired by this page by Jill Calder from her Robert the Bruce King of Scots book.

Jill Calder's depiction of the sea. She uses lines and texture to create a moving water, I wanted movement for my violent sea.

Creating the Spread

Illustrating seagulls was inspired by this postcard I have from Warwick Bazaar

I wasn't happy with how the page was going at all above and so I went back to my iPad to thumbnail a similar idea but different.

I took inspiration from the Jill Calder book page to the left which limits the page to simply knights and horses. Thus I made the presence of the man and horse more dominant on the left page. I also limited what was on the following page to seagulls which was inspired by the below Jill Calder page from her book Coorie Doon.

I felt that something was missing from this spread and flipping through Jill Calder's Robert the Bruce King of Scots book I felt that more violent marks would better illude to violence that's within the story.

These splat marks on jill Calder's page inspired me to make my own splat marks, which I then added to the feet around the man's legs.

Final illustration for Knight's ghost page 3 and The Mermaid

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