History of Hymns: ''Tis the Old Ship of Zion'

“‘Tis the Old Ship of Zion”
African American spiritual
Songs of Zion, 131
The United Methodist Hymnal, 345

‘Tis the old ship of Zion,
'Tis the old ship of Zion,
‘Tis the old ship of Zion,
Git on board, git on board.

This spiritual, deeply rooted in the experience of enslaved Africans in the antebellum South, has endured over time. Many variants surfaced, including “The Old Ship of Zion” in Slave Songs of the United States (New York, 1867), the earliest collection of African American folksongs. The printed history of this spiritual reveals an uncommon number of variant melodies and texts compared to others. However, the “Old Ship of Zion” remains central to them all, a testament to its enduring significance in African American culture.

EARLY VERSIONS

Versions of the spiritual were prevalent throughout the United States. Fredericka Brenner (background unknown), who observed worship in two Black congregations in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 27, 1850, offers this antebellum account. In the afternoon, she visited an African Methodist Church. A portion of her detailed notes of the experience follows:

Printed variants first appeared in collections by white publishers, beginning with Sacred Melodies, 5^th Ed. (1842), a Free Will Baptist words-only collection. The following text appeared with an L.M. designation, though the meter is irregular (P.M.):

1. What ship is this that is now sailing by,
O, glory halle hallelujah!
What ship is this that is now sailing by,
O, glory halle hallelujah!
It’s the old ship of Zion, hallelujah!
It's the old ship of Zion, hallelujah.

2. Do you think she will be able to carry us all through, &c.
Yes she’s landed many a thousand, hallelujah, &c.

3. She’s has landed many a thousand and she’ll land a many more, &c.”
She will land us over Jordan, hallelujah, &c.

4. What will the Christian do when the lamp of life goes out, &c.
He'll go shouting home to glory, hallelujah, &c.

5. I anticipate that day when we shall get home, &c.
There we'll praise the King of glory, hallelujah, &c.

6. Is there any body [sic] here that is going my way, &c.
We will journey on together, hallelujah, &c.

Other versions were included in The Pilgrim’s Choice (Jacksonville, Alabama, 1843), compiled by Baptist David W. Anderson (1801–1887). The American Vocalist (Boston, 1849), compiled by Rev. Daniel Hale Mansfield (1810–1855), includes another related textual variant with an undesignated tune:

1. O what ship is this that comes sailing by,
O glory halle—hallelujah!
O what ship is this that comes sailing by,
O glory halle—hallelujah!
‘Tis the old ship of Zion, Hallelujah!
‘Tis the old ship of Zion, Hallelujah!
2. And will this ship be able to carry us safe thro’
O glory halle—hallelujah! &c.
Yes, Jesus is her Captain, Hallelujah! &c.
3. All her passengers will land on the bright eternal shore,
O glory halle—hallelujah! &c.
And they'll shout their sufferings over, Hallelujah! &c.
4. She’s landed many a thousands and will land as many more,
O glory halle—hallelujah! &c.
She will lead them over Jordan, Hallelujah! &c.

A similar version with music appears in The Social Harp (Louisville, 1854), a Cumberland Presbyterian compilation by Rev. Jesse Anderson (1812–1885) and Rev. S.B. Howard. Variants appeared in collections by white publishers into the twentieth century. Of note was “The Ole Ship of Zion” (pp. 24–25) in Plantation Melodies (1918) by Homer A. Rodeheaver, a white music evangelist whose publishing company published several collections of spirituals collected from Black communities. This variant, beginning with “Come along, come along, and let’s go home,” is distinctive from others, though the textual themes are similar.

Though the variant in Slave Songs of the United States in 1867 appears later than in early collections sung by mostly white parishioners, it is likely that both were sung concurrently during the ecumenical and interracial frontier revivals that took place during the Second Great Awakening in the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and southern Ohio (Lorenz, 1978, pp. 16–22). Frontier hymn scholar Ellen Jane Lorenz includes “Old Ship Zion” among those sung in these events, indicating that “the words and music are paralleled in a Negro spiritual” (Lorenz, 1978, p. 96).

The following note by the compilers appears with the song: “We have received two versions of the ‘Old Ship of Zion,’ quite different from each other and from those given by Col. [Thomas Wentworth] Higginson. The first was sung twenty-five years ago by the colored people of Ann Arundel Co., Maryland” (Slave Songs, 1867, p. 102). The second version, beginning “Don’t you see that ship a-sailin’,” has similar themes but does not mention “The Old Ship of Zion.” In general, these variants have two things in common: a reference to the “ship of Zion” and a brief refrain, “Glory, hallelujah” or “Hallelujah.” The tune also has several variants, and compilations either list no composer or indicate that it is traditional.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers version, published in J.T. Marsh’s anthology (1877), a decade after Slave Songs (1867), uses a different tune:

LATER VERSION IN CURRENT HYMNALS

At this point, readers have probably noticed that none of these versions bear any similarity to the one in United Methodist collections. Publications after the early 1930s no longer included the variants of this spiritual discussed above. Editors replaced earlier renditions with a simpler version associated with the melody of “Give me that old time religion,” a spiritual shared by African American and white communities. The earliest copy of this version available to this author is in The National Jubilee Melodies (1916), a publication of the National Baptist Convention of America, collected by K.D. Reddick and arranged by Phil V.S. Lindsley, titled “Get on Board” (p. 129), with the refrain:

More than fifteen hymnals contain this version, including the African American Heritage Hymnal (2001), Baptist Hymnal (1991), Songs of Zion (1981), The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal (1999), The New Century Hymnal (1995), The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), This Far by Faith (1999), and Yes, Lord! (1982). The stanzas number between two and five and are found among those included in The National Jubilee Melodies (1916) with the exception of a closing eschatological stanza, “It will take you home to Glory” or “It will take us all to heaven.” Though this version was published later, it was likely sung concurrently in various communities. Because the later version was easy to transmit orally, it was not necessary to have a printed version.

IMAGERY AND USE AMONG ENSLAVED AFRICANS

“Old Ship of Zion,” if not the best known, is one of the most venerable spirituals in the repertoire. The first biblical reference to Zion is 2 Samuel 5:7, “David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David” (RSV). The first temple, built on Mt. Moriah, became known as Mount Zion. Modern Mt. Zion refers to a hill on the south side of Jerusalem, a sacred place where God’s redemptive work takes place. Though a metaphor of security and hope in the antebellum South, it is still meaningful to African Americans today. Emory University scholar James Abbington notes, "The African American church has been and is the Mt. Zion of our community—the invincible city of God” (Abbington, 2001, p. xiv).

Because a ship was the method of transportation for enslaved Africans during the “Middle Passage” from Africa to the New World, the notion of a “ship of Zion” that becomes a vehicle for deliverance in the spiritual is a paradox. The stanza beginning, “There ain’t no danger in the waters,” may refer to the Middle Passage and the passage from this life to the next. William B. McClain discusses the spiritual in the context of the enslaved African experience:

An account by Harriet Tubman (1822–1913), the Black abolitionist who led approximately seventy people to freedom on the Underground Railroad, supports McClain’s assertion. Writing under the pseudonym William Henry Jackson to alert her family that she would return to get them, Tubman said: “Read my letter to the old folks, and give my love to them and tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step on board” (Bradford, 2004, p. 34; quoted in Guenther, 2006, p. 129).

The spiritual influenced a gospel song by Thomas A. Dorsey (1899–1993), “Old Ship of Zion” (1950), with the stanza beginning, “I was lost in sin and sorrow.” The hymn quotes key phrases from the spiritual, ending each of the three stanzas, “get on board, all of God’s children, get on board.” [See Chalice Hymnal (1995, No. 539), Songs of Zion (1981, No. 189), and The New National Baptist Hymnal, 21^st Century Ed. (2000, No. 534).] Another gospel song, entitled “The Old Ship of Zion” or “Ship Ahoy!” by M.J. Cartwright (possibly Miriah J. Cartwright, 1841–1926, of Kentucky), was set to a tune by Daniel B. Towner (1850–1919). Beginning “I was drifting away on life’s pitiless sea” is a song of personal conversion and, though published often in the first half of the twentieth century, bears no resemblance to the spiritual.

Representative performances of “Old Ship of Zion” in the African American community follow:

• Pastor Robert Welch, in an unnamed congregation, performs the spiritual in a “metered hymn” style, also called “Dr. Watts’ hymn” style. This performance is slow in tempo and improvisatory, with the choir supporting the soloist and the congregation voicing their support (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHU6LF2NanA).
• Rev. Randolph Miller leads this version for the funeral of Rev. Clementa C. Pickney in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, with President Obama in attendance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9vhDLlDvDg&t=128s).
• Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942–2024), founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, leads “Old Ship of Zion” as her final song with the group in 2009 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXuPwKHXnsw&t=34s).

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

• James Abbington, Let Mt. Zion Rejoice! Music in the African American Church (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2001).
• Sarah Bradford, Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People (New York: Dover Publication, [1886] 2004).
• Dena Epstein, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1977, 2003).
• Eileen Guenther, In Their Own Words: Slave Life and the Power of the Spirituals (St. Louis: MorningStar Music Publishers, 2016).
• Ellen Jane Lorenz, Glory, Hallelujah! The Story of the Campmeeting Spiritual (Nashville: Abingdon, 1978).
• William B. McClain, Come Sunday—the Liturgy of Zion: A Companion to Songs of Zion (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990).
• David W. Music and Paul A. Richardson, I Will Sing the Wondrous Story: A History of Baptist Hymnody in North America (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2008).
• Walter F. Pitts Jr. Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African Diaspora (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

Bible verses marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971, the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.