Nathaniel Crawford's Song Analysis

Have you ever heard this song before?

It was long ago in a year since forgotten when Elizabeth Newton married her husband, the twenty-three-year-old Nathaniel Crawford, when she was just fifteen. He was a sailor for the Royal Navy, and soon after they were married he had to leave to board a ship.

Elizabeth expected to stay at his home and maintain order, like she knew her mother had when she first married her father, but Nathaniel insisted she come on board with him. She resisted—she did not want to get in the way of four hundred men that had not touched a woman in ages, nor did she want to eat half of her husband's rations or share his bed.

Nathaniel was just as stubborn, so when the time came for him to leave Elizabeth went with him. Many of the other sailors also objected to her being on board. They knew of the superstitions, and the luck that came with keeping a woman on board.
As the weeks passed, the weather got worse and worse, and it became increasingly difficult to sail during the daylight hours when Elizabeth was awake.
Nathaniel hushed any rumors that it was the fault of Elizabeth's presence, and silenced any of the non-superstitious men jokingly suggesting that she should "shame nature" by going
bare-chested.

Naturally, Elizabeth had no real say, so on one of the stormy nights she went to sleep as usual, beside her husband in his hammock below deck.