Greenwich's famous floating Sea Shanty Festival is officially back for another swashbuckling season

Greenwich’s most famous tea clipper - an old-fashioned, Pirates of the Caribbean-esque ship for those not in the know - will once again become a floating stage (albeit a docked one) as shanty crews, choirs, poets and globe-spanning performers descend for a full day of maritime music at the Sea Shanty Festival. It’s an annual tradition that feels part historical re-enactment, part community rave, except the only thing getting hoisted is your voice.

Things kick off across the ship’s Tween Deck and Dry Dock stages from 10am on the 22nd of November, with the HogEye Men, London’s veteran shanty specialists and the Cutty Sark’s unofficial house band, opening proceedings. With nearly 20 years of experience and harmonies as sturdy as the ship’s iron frame, they’ll be popping up throughout the day like well-placed buoys.

From there, it’s a rolling tide of programming. There are learn-a-shanty sessions with John (ideal for anyone whose sea-singing confidence peaks in the shower), deep-dives into maritime history with enthusiast Mark Braby, and appearances from the John Roan School Choir and the brilliantly theatrical Silver Darlings, an all-female shanty crew from Southend who treat nautical storytelling like a competitive sport.

Things get beautifully eclectic around lunchtime. Sonny Brazil, a folk singer and squeeze-box player living the barge-traveller life on England’s waterways, brings centuries-old canal culture to the deck.

The Queer History Club Choir, born from a creative research group at the National Maritime Museum, takes beloved shanties and gives them a queer twist.

Later in the day, poet Luigi Coppola (aka The Only Emperor) steps in with spoken-word interludes before Cape Verdean superstar Carmen Souza electrifies the Dry Dock stage. Often dubbed the “Cape Verdean Ella Fitzgerald”, she blends Cabo Verdean rhythms with jazz and social history, unveiling her 11th album, Port’Inglês, a record mapping the lesser-known stories of British occupation through her own genre-shifting style.

The festival closes with a big, communal sing-along at 4pm, featuring every performer on site, a moment that feels less like a finale and more like a collective exhale. If you’ve never heard an entire dockyard belt a shanty in unison… well, it’s worth the trip to Greenwich.

Whether you're into traditional maritime work songs, community choirs, or just fancy seeing how many people you can pack under a world-famous tea clipper ship without it becoming a health-and-safety issue, this is one of London’s most charming winter rituals.

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