MUSIC and history will collide at the Shipwreck Museum in Freo next weekend when salty folksters the Lost Quays and museum boffins put their heads together for Run Aground.

“We are providing a crusty crew singing shanties and songs of the sea,” Lost Quays baritone and ukulele player Tim Darby says.

“They are providing an amazing venue…and a marine historian to give background to some of the songs.”

The atmospheric Batavia gallery was the inspiration for Run Aground, and Lost Quays members have written three new songs about WA wrecks.

• The Lost Quays mix history and music in Run Aground. Photo supplied

The skeleton of a murder victim of the infamous Batavia on display may well rattle to the beat of a song about WA’s most bloody shipwreck.

The Georgette is a heroic tale of Aboriginal stockman Sam Isaacs and Grace Bussell’s daring rescue of passengers and crew as the ship went down in stormy seas.

The third song tells of the City of York which sunk off Rottnest.

The ship’s carpenter built a coffin of Huon pine during the voyage, and placed a large doll he’d made inside.

“The ship went down and the blame was laid on the carpenter.”

Run Aground is on Saturday September 2, 7–9pm. The $25 tix includes a surprise on arrival. Probably not a serving of the cat of nine-tails.

Tix at thelostquays.com