The Black Joke, sometimes spelled Black Joak, was a bawdy song heard in London around 1730. William Hogarth

William Hogarth

William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...

 referenced the song in the Tavern Scene of A Rake's Progress

A Rake's Progress

A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–33 then engraved and published in print form in 1735...

. The lyrics and tune apparently gave rise to variations from 1730 onwards, such as the White Joak and so forth. The tune was later known as The Sprig of Shillelagh. Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852) wrote the song "Sublime was the warning which Liberty spoke" to the tune.

Vessels

• During the French Revolutionary
  French Revolutionary Wars
  The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
  
   and Napoleonic Wars
  Napoleonic Wars
  The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
  
  , the Royal Navy
  Royal Navy
  The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
  
   employed several hired armed
  Hired armed cutter Black Joke
  The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter of ten 6-pounder guns and 9886/94 tons burthen that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801...
  
   cutters that bore the name Black Joke.

• During the War of 1812
  War of 1812
  The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
  
  , Black Joke was a nickname for the highly successful Nova Scotian privateer
  Privateer
  A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
  
   Liverpool Packet
  Liverpool Packet
  Liverpool Packet was a privateer schooner from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, which captured 50 American vessels in the War of 1812. During the war the privateer ship was briefly captured by American privateers, eventually being recaptured by the British...
  
  .

• In 1827 the British captured the slave ship
  Slave ship
  Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....
  
   Henriquetta and renamed her HMS Black Joke
  HMS Black Joke (1827)
  The third HMS Black Joke was probably built in Baltimore in 1824, becoming the Brazilian slave ship Henriquetta. The Royal Navy captured her in September 1827 and purchased her into the service. The West Africa Squadron employed her to chase down slave ships. Over the course of a five-year career...
  
  . She went on to become one of the most successful anti-slavery vessels in the West Africa
  West Africa Squadron
  The Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron at substantial expense in 1808 after Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The squadron's task was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa...
  
  or "Preventative squadron".