About our crew

Based on the banks of the River Orwell in Ipswich, Suffolk, we are a friendly, growing crew of men and women who love to sing traditional sea shanties and songs of the of sea and our priority is to enjoy ourselves and to entertain our audiences. We welcome anyone and everyone to join us at our informal shanty sessions at the Steamboat Tavern Ipswich.

We give our time for free to support Festivals or charity fundraising events.  We have raised £4,500 for our supported charities this year, RNLI, Prostate Cancer UK and Selig Suffolk.

We take bookings and are now very much in demand, performing at least once per month at various local pubs and clubs and increasingly being invited to Festivals. and to sing at private functions and concert venues. Please drop us an email: Orwellermen@gmail.com

Our story

In Sept 2022, with the Covid restrictions behind us, our skipper Gareth, was inspired to start a sea shanty group, as a way to get men together to have fun making music and making friends.

Sea Shanties are fun to sing, they have easy melodies, repeated choruses which are easy to learn, and always sung at the top your voice so it easy to hide if you are not used to singing in a group!

The first monthly meetings were held in the upstairs room of a quirky pub in Ipswich with 5 or 6 men. It was hard work at first as we didn’t know any sea shanties! Word got around, and a few more joined us, including a lady who wanted to join. How could we refuse! Our, now mixed shanty crew moved to a different venue, the Steamboat Tavern on the waterfront in Ipswich where we still meet.
Almost a year to the day we started, we had our first performance at a folk club held in a local community centre. We were by then officially The Orwellermen, and 11 members sang a 15 minute set which was very well received.

Shanties @ The Steamboat

The Orwellermen at the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival June 2025

Our first original song written for the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival