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Description: | Song about a famous local ferryman.At the beginning of the nineteenth century, before steamboats were introduced, Jemmy Joneson, whose wherry is immortalized in this song, was a famous local character, well known to all passengers on the River Tyne. At this time a healthy competition existed between the Shields coaches and gigs on land, and the wherries and 'comfortables' (a type of covered wherry) on the river. Despite the notable protestations of Joneson after the onset of steam, the use of wherries and comfortables rapidly died out, replaced by the steamboat.The author of this song was Thomas Thompson, a timber merchant in Newcastle. A self-made man, Thompson was well known as the author of a number of popular local songs including 'Canny Newcassel' and the 'New Keel Row'. Thompson died on 9th January, 1816 aged forty-three.This song is part of the John Bell Collection. ; A collection of broadsheets on various subjects, with accompanying press cuttings and manuscript notes in the hand of John Bell. | Publisher: | W. Orange North Shields ; Tyne and Wear | Rights holder: | rights holder : Newcastle University | Subjects: | river and sea & transport rivers & boats & transport | Temporal: | start=1801;end=1840; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:N0124501 | Go to resource |
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