This month's Candlelight Concert at Trinity United Methodist Church features the rollicking, roaring sea shanties of Nelson's Blood, a group born out of Port Townsend's popular sea-shanty sing-alongs.

The shantymen and shantywomen are accompanied by students from Blue Heron School, and audience members are also welcome to join in on the choruses.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the concert begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 31 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 609 Taylor St., in the Uptown District.

The Port Townsend School District has in the past few years been implementing place-based education through the Maritime Discovery Schools Initiative (MDSI).

Seventh-grade teacher Brett Navin said he already incorporates sea shanties into his language-arts curriculum. He plays recorded shanties for the students, and said some of the kids recognize some shanties from a video game they're into called Black Flag.

In May, he is preparing students for their eight-day maritime program in June, which takes place at the Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC).

"The maritime staff does a great job," Navin said.

The seventh-grade maritime program also includes a tour of local marine tradespeople’s workplaces, building a boat in the boat shop, learning navigation and using the NWMC's state-of-the-art simulator, and going out in the longboats, replicas of 18th-century rowing and sailing vessels. Singing sea shanties helps people row together in the longboats, making for faster and more efficient rowing.

"Shanties were, and still are, songs that workers sang to unify an effort to get a job done," explained Mike James. Leader of the Port Townsend sea shanty group and a cofounder of Nelson's Blood, James is a wealth of shanty-related knowledge.

"The name of the group is Nelson’s Blood, which may sound a bit gruesome," he said. It may be a reference to a line from a shanty called "Highland Laddie," which runs, "A drop of Nelson's blood wouldn't do us any harm," meaning Horatio Nelson, admiral of the British Navy.

"Attend the concert to find out why the group is called Nelson’s Blood," James advised.

Sarah Rubenstein, MDSI project director, is also to speak at the concert. Refreshments are to be served following the performance.

Because they keep people working together efficiently, sea shanties were indispensable aboard sailing ships. “It’s been said that a good 'shantyman' [song leader] is worth 10 men on a rope," he said. "The history of Port Townsend is linked to this music.”

Nelson’s Blood singers include Mike James, Jay Hagar, Jim Scarantino, Steve Blakeslee, Annie Scarborough, Mike “Tug” Buse, Chris Gilbert and Val James.

They have shared their music in Port Townsend pubs, schools and at the annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, and are scheduled to perform this May at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle.

The song list for the Candlelight Concert includes “Sugar in the Hold,” “Roll the Old Chariot,” "Bound for Botany Bay," “Randy Dandy Oh” and many more.

While marine trades and the maritime world are part of the place-based education focus of MDSI, there is a lot more to it – just as Jefferson County has a lot more to offer than just boats and marine environments.

Navin said his seventh-graders have done creek restoration with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, clearing out brush and planting trees, taking and analyzing soil samples, and learning about native species. They work with many local organizations, including Finnriver Farm and Jefferson Land Trust. They've gone bird-watching with the Admiralty Audubon Society and drawn maps of the Quimper Peninsula.

Later this year, students are going to do a John Steinbeck unit, reading parts of "The Log from the Sea of Cortez" and visiting the Western Flyer, the boat which Steinbeck's memoir made famous, now undergoing restoration at the Shipwrights' Co-op.

For more information about the Candlelight Concert, call 774-1644. For information about MDSI, visit ptschools.org or email Rubenstein at 385-6661 or srubenstein@ptschools.org.