Annotation:Dressed Ship (The)
Tune properties and standard notation
DRESSED SHIP, THE. English (originally), Country Dance Tune (cut time); New England, Polka. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune first appeared in print in Thompson's Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1774, where it appears as a longways dance 'for as many as will.' A 'dressed ship' is one that has been decorated with signal flags and other pennants, usually for a ceremony or celebration. There are two distinctions: a dressed ship display employs smaller ensigns than does a full-dressed ship.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Fleming-Williams & Shaw (English Dance Airs; Popular Selection, Book 1), 1965; p. 14. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 25. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 102. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 25.
Recorded sources: Midsummer MR223, Jaqueline Schwab - "Mad Robin, Reflections on English Country Dances for Solo Piano."