© National Maritime Museum, London
The annual Sea Shanty Festival returns to Cutty Sark on Saturday 21 November – a day of rousing performances of folk songs for all ages.
The first edition of the festival was held in 2021 and, since then, it has grown to include bands and artists from across the UK and beyond.
Performers will take to the stage to fill the decks of the ship and its dry berth with traditional maritime working songs. Among them are Cutty Sark’s resident shanty groups Swinging the Lead and The HogEye Men, as well as all-female shanty crews like The Silver Darlings and Upping the Shanty. Other musicians include Sonny Brazil, a folk singer and squeeze box player, Mark Braby, a multi-instrumentalist delivering a talk on sea shanties, the Queer History Club Choir and the London Sea Shanty Collective.
The festival is divided into two sessions: a morning and an afternoon one, with ticket holders having access to both sessions. Performances will start at 10:30am, culminating in a first big sing along at 1:30pm. The second session, which will start at 2:30pm and feature the same performers, will end in a final sing along at 5:30pm.
Alongside shanty singing, a number of workshops and family-friendly activities such as ropemaking will take place around the space.
Vicki Beswick, Schools Learning Senior Producer at Royal Museums Greenwich, led the organisation of the event. She said: ‘What makes the Sea Shanty Festival really special is that it takes place on and under one of the UK's most famous ships – Cutty Sark. 157 years ago, its sailors would have been singing these same shanties whilst working to help the ship speed across the ocean. Every year, on Cutty Sark’s birthday, we pay homage to those crews with our annual musical celebration.’
For more information visit: https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/cutty-sark/sea-shanty-festival-2026.
FULL PROGRAMME SCHEDULE
| Time | Dry Berth (under the ship) | Tween Deck (inside the ship) |
| 10:30 | Swinging the Lead | The Silver Darlings |
| 11:15 | Sonny Brazil | The HogEye Men |
| 12:00 | The Queer History Club Choir | Talk – Mark Braby |
| 12:45 | London Sea Shanty Collective | Upping The Shanty |
| 13:30 | Big sing along – all | |
| Break | ||
| 14:30 | The Silver Darlings | The Queer History Club Choir |
| 15:15 | The HogEye Men | Swinging the Lead |
| 16:00 | Upping The Shanty | Sonny Brazil |
| 16:45 | London Sea Shanty Collective | Talk – Mark Braby |
| 17:30 | Big sing along – all |
INFORMATION FOR VISITORS:
Venue: Cutty Sark, Greenwich
Date: 21 November 2026
Time: 10.00 – 17.00
Admission: Free with entry to Cutty Sark
Visitor enquiries: 020 8858 4422
Twitter: @RMGreenwich
Instagram: @royalmuseumsgreenwich
Facebook: @royalmuseumsgreenwich
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Cutty Sark reopened to the public in April 2012, marking a new chapter in the extraordinary life of the last surviving tea clipper and one of the world’s most famous ships. Visitors to Cutty Sark can venture aboard and beneath the beautiful three-masted clipper: walk along the decks in the footsteps of the merchant seamen who sailed her over a century ago; explore the hold where cargo was stored on voyages; and even walk underneath the 963-tonne ship in the dry berth below to view the elegant lines of her hull.
Cutty Sark is part of Royal Museums Greenwich which also incorporates the National Maritime Museum, the 17th-century Queen’s House and the Royal Observatory Greenwich. This unique collection of museums and heritage buildings form a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site and is also a major centre of education and research. The mission of Royal Museums Greenwich is to enrich people’s understanding of the sea, the exploration of space, and Britain's role in world history. For more information, visit www.rmg.co.uk.
For further information or images please contact:
Royal Museums Greenwich Press Office
Tel: 020 8312 6545/6789/6589
Email: press@rmg.co.uk