The Current Dogwatch Crew, July 2018 Photo: Lori Keep

DOGWATCH: The afternoon and evening watches on a sailing vessel when the crew would all gather to spin yarns, mend clothing and sing foc’sl songs. The members of Dogwatch are (left to right): Gary Keep - mandolin, octave mandolin, concertina, penny whistle and guitar Steve Aultman - marlinspike Shay Black - banjo, guitar Craig Johnson - piano, accordion, concertina and guitar (and web-rigger for this site.) Roger Bramble - harmonica ... and of course, we all sing!

The Band | Upcoming Events | Our CD | Future Gigs | The Music

The Dogwatch Nautical Band, hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, was formed in 1978 for the purpose of recreating a mid-19th century sailor band. Large sailing ships often had a number of musicians within the crew. During a long voyage they would entertain the crew and any passengers that might be aboard. The music would range from the chanteys (work songs) and foc’sl songs to hymns and popular music hall numbers. We performed for six years at the Dickens Christmas Fair and immediately found that there were other venues for traditional maritime music.

Over the years we have performed live on three Bay Area radio stations, including Sedge Thompson’s “West Coast Live” during the years it aired on KQED FM. We have performed for museum events, yacht clubs, festivals, weddings and a brief live TV appearance on KPIX, Channel 5, during the Golden Gate Bridge 50th Birthday Celebration. In addition to our land-based performances the band has also entertained many times on a variety of large sailing vessels on the bay, including the State of California’s official tall ship, The Californian, and the 1891 scow schooner, Alma, from the San Francisco National Maritime Historic Park’s collection of historic ships.

In addition to public performances, we’ve performed nautical music at weddings, fundraisers, rehearsal dinners, and cocktail parties. We’ve also released our first CD (more on that in a bit). Feel free to use the links above to contact us for more information about the band’s availability...

After over three decades of planning (and procrastinating), our CD “Like a Proper Deep Sea Rover” is out! You can buy it from iTunes, CDBaby, or at any of our events. You can also listen to us on Spotify. Here’s what’s on the CD (all traditional unless otherwise noted): Blow the Man Down, Ramblin’ Sailor, Whup! Jamboree, Billy Taylor, Sugar in the Hold, Bye Bye my Roseanna, Shawneetown (Dillon Bustin), Ranzo Ray/Cheerly Man, The Casca and The Whitehorse (Bob Bossin), Old Moke Pickin’ on a Banjo, I’m Bound Away/Fire Marengo, Swansea Town, One More Day, Deep Blue Sea.

If you’d like to be notified whenever new gigs comes up for us, send email saying so, and we’ll email you a month before every one of our public gigs.

Over the next few months, we hope to get the lyrics to many of the songs we sing up on this website, for now, there are a few dozen apiece of forebitters and chanteys up. Soon we’ll put up more information about the music, along with some graphics and links to other nautical music websites, so make this page one of your ports of call!

Thanks for checking out our site!

 - The Dogwatch Crew