"A Life on the Ocean Wave" is a song by Henry Russell

Henry Russell (musician)

Henry Russell was an English pianist, baritone singer and composer, born into a distinguished Jewish family.-Biography:...

 published in 1838. The song originated from the poet Epes Sargent

Epes Sargent

Epes Sargent was an American editor, poet and playwright.-Early life:Epes Sargent was the son of Epes Sargent and Hannah Dane Coffin , and was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on September 27, 1813, where his father was a ship master. In 1818 the family moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts...

. One day he and Russell were walking on The Battery

Battery Park

Battery Park is a 25-acre public park located at the Battery, the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City, facing New York Harbor. The Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years in order to protect the settlement behind them...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 watching the ships enter the harbour. This scene inspired Sargent to write a poem, which Russell then put to music. The song proceeded to become popular in both the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

At an 1851 celebration in Salem, Massachusetts, the Boston Cadet Band gave the new clipper ship Witch of the Wave

Witch of the Wave (clipper)

Witch of the Wave was a long-lived extreme clipper in the California trade, with a sailing life of over 34 years. She held the record passage from Calcutta to Boston.-Construction:...

a lively sendoff by striking up "A Life on the Ocean Wave" as the USS R. B. Forbes

USS R. B. Forbes (1845)

USS R. B. Forbes was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Her primary task was to prevent blockade runners from entering, or departing from, the South....

 towed the new clipper out to set sail for Boston.

In 1882, the Deputy Adjutant General Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 requested that the Bandmaster of each Royal Marine Division (Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

, Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

) submit an arrangement for a new regimental march for the corps, if possible based on a naval song. Kappey, the Bandmaster of the Chatham Division, submitted an arrangement of "A Life on the Ocean Wave", with an eight bar trio from "The Sea" by Sigismund Neukomm, which was authorised for use as the regimental quick march of the Corps of Royal Marines in 1882.

In the United States, it is the official march of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

The tune, played by the Band of the Royal Marines, is played over the opening credits of the 1992 BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television film An Ungentlemanly Act

An Ungentlemanly Act

An Ungentlemanly Act is a 1992 BBC television film about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.-Production:The film was written and directed by Stuart Urban, and commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Falklands War...

, about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

.

External links

• United Kingdom Military March, A Life on the Ocean Wave, Video and music by a military band
  Military band
  A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
  
   from the United Kingdom
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
  
  
• Thurl Ravenscroft-- Life On The Ocean Waves, Video with music and pictures
• A Life on the Ocean Wave, Sound clip and links to sheet music, as featured in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book By the Shores of Silver Lake
  By the Shores of Silver Lake
  By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, was first published in 1939 and is the fifth of nine books written in her Little House on the Prairie series, also known as "The Laura Years." The book begins when Laura is twelve years old and the family moves to what will become De Smet,...
  
  
• A Life On the Ocean Wave, lyrics