From Ships to Stage: New Bedford’s Sea Chantey Chorus Sings History

Formed in 2001 by Tom Goix and Polly Zajac, the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus is a lively, musical group right in our own backyard.

It's a genre you might not be too familiar with. Heck, I didn't know there were sea chantey groups, let alone one on the SouthCoast.

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What Is the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus?

The chorus consists of roughly 30 members right now, both men and women, all from a variety of backgrounds, abilities and performance levels.

They rehearse on Wednesday evenings at the Unitarian Church on Union Street in New Bedford.

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"It usually starts around like February and we go until about June and then most of our performances are over the summer," said Polly Zajac, Manager of New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus.

What Is a Sea Chantey?

"Sea chanteys, in the most strict of definition, were songs that were sung on a ship to help get work done," Zajac said.

"So if you were raising sails, raising an anchor, doing something that you wanted to, like voice your discontent without voicing your discontent, you could put it in the lyrics of a song," she said.

"In some of the big rig ships, they would actually have a chantey singer who would be there to coordinate the efforts of the sailors on board," Zajac said.

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What Is a Performance of Sea Chanteys Like?

The New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus has performed at a variety of events, festivals and locations.

"There's a lot of repetition in the chorus and that's how sea chanteys would have been used on the vessel," Zajac said. "The sea chantey leader would say the verses and then the workers would work in the chorus to help lighten the load of the work."

"So if we're doing like traditional chanteys, there's always people in the audience who know these songs," she said.

When and Where Can You Hear the New Bedford Sea Chantey Chorus?

The group has a couple of local performances coming up which are open to the public:

• Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 3 p.m., Mattapoisett Historical Museum, Mattapoisett
• Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 2 p.m., The Meeting House at Four Corners, Tiverton, Rhode Island