Harwich International Shanty Festival

This year marks the 19th anniversary of Harwich International Shanty Festival.

It has journeyed a long way since its small beginnings with a bunch of friends meeting up in a couple of pubs to drink good beer and sing good shanties, but we like to think that the initial idea of a cosy pub atmosphere, real ale, good friends and rousing shanties is still where our core values lie.

In those nineteen years the Festival has grown to become the Premier UK Shanty Festival and over the Festival weekend the historic seaport town of Historic Harwich resounds with lusty singing of Shanties and Sea songs, together with pub sessions, concerts, barge trips, street theatre, maritime crafts, pirates, a Shanty train and much more.