Horse 920 - The Big Ship Sails Through the Ally Ally O?

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
On the last day of September.

We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
The deep blue sea, the deep blue sea
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
On the last day of September.

I've tried to do some research on this little skipping rhyme and the best that I could come up with is somewhat surprising.

The most likely explanation has to do with the Manchester Ship Canal which runs from Manchester to Birkenhead. It was opened in 1894 and at the time it was estimated that only about half a dozen ships in the whole world were unable to use it. On completion it held two records - it was the biggest canal in the world at 38 miles long and to pay for it, a cheque for £1,700,000 was the biggest cheque ever presented to any bank in the world (or £234 million adjusted for inflation).

So impressive was the canal, that the city adopted as part of its crest a ship denoting the canal. In turn both Manchester United (1970) and Manchester City (1997) would also both adopt a ship as part of their crests.



In regards to the question as to why it sails on the last day of September, I can't find anything of any import that actually happened on the last day of September except for the beginning of BBC's Radio 1, 2, 3 & 4, Jack the Ripper killing four people, and those dang cartoons of Mohamed appearing in Danish newspapers... but nothing about a supposed big ship.

Maybe the big git's name is Dallaglio?