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Sea Shantys
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Mermaid - Andrew Draskoy's version


It was a Friday morn when we set sail
And we were not far from the land
When our captain, he spied a fishy mermaid
With a comb and a glass in her hand
Oh the ocean waves do roll
And the stormy winds do blow
And we poor sailors are skipping at the top
While the landlubbers lie down below, below, below
While the landlubbers lie down below


Up spoke the captain of our gallant ship
And a brave old skipper was he
"This fishy mermaid has warned me of our doom
We shall sink to the bottom of the sea"


Up spoke the first mate of our gallant ship
And a well-spoken man was he
"I have me a wife in Salem by the sea
And tonight she a widow will be"


Up spoke the bosun of our gallant ship
And a brave young man was he
"Well I've got a sweetheart at St. John's by the sea
And tonight she be weepin' for me"


Up spoke the cook of our gallant ship
And a greasy old butcher was he
"I care much more for my pots and my pans
Than I do for the bottom of the sea"


Then up spoke the cabinboy, of our gallant ship
And a nasty little lad was he
"I'm not quite sure I can spell mermaid
But I'm going to the bottom of the sea"


Then three times around spun our gallant ship
And three times around spun she
Three times around spun our gallant ship
And she sank to the bottom of the sea
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Mingalay Boat Song


Hail ya ho boys, let her go boys
Bring her head 'round, and all together
Hail ya ho boys, let her go boys
Sailing homeward to Mingalay


What care we how wild the minch is
What care we for windy weather
Hail ya ho boys, every inch is
Sailing closer to Mingalay


Wives and sweethearts on the hillside
Looking seaward through the heather
Let her go boys, and we'll anchor
'Ere the sun sets on Mingalay


When the wind is wild with shouting
And the waves mount ever higher
Anxious eyes turn ever seaward
To see us home, boys, to Mingalay
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Ocean Ranger - Mary Garbey


On the fifteenth day of February
Nineteen-Eighty-Two
The Ocean Ranger was capsized
And lost all of its crew
84 precious lives were lost
On that sad and fateful day
Some were Newfoundlanders
And some were C.F.A.


The crew in desperation tried
To launch their covered boats
When they saw the rig, the Ranger
Would no longer stay afloat
But the seas were far too treacherous
And the waves were far too high
And each man knew that hope was gone
It was his time to die


And what an awful night it was
Out on those roaring seas
The Russian trawler went down too
Just sixteen miles east
And thirty Russian lives were lost
And they were just as dear
As those we lost from Newfoundland
And memories we rever


Like their sons who follow after
And their fathers gone before
Our men must earn their living
On that wild and treacherous shore
And whether they're hunting fish
Or seals, whales, or crude oil
They must endure and persevere
In hardship and in toil


And now the wakes are over
And the masses have been said
And the widows and the orphans
Now are left to mourn their dead
We pray to God the father
And the son, and holy ghost
To protect all those who venture forth
Off Newfoundland's fateful coast
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rolling Home - from Whall


Call all hands to man the capstan
See the cable run down clear
Heave away and with a will boys
For old England we will steer
And we'll sing in joyful chorus
In the watches of the night
And we'll sight the shores of England
When the grey dawn brings the light


Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home across the sea
Rolling home to dear old England
Rolling home, dear land to thee


Up aloft amid the rigging
Blows the loud exulting gale
Like a bird's wide out-streached pinions
Spreads on high each swelling sail
And the wild waves cleft behind us
Seem to murmur as they flow
There are loving hearts that wait you
In the land to which you go


Many thousand miles behind us
Many thousand miles before
Ancient ocean have to waft us
To the well-remembered shore
Cheer up Jack, bright smiles await you
From the fairest of the fair
And her loving eyes will greet you
With kind welcomes everywhere
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Sailor's Alphabet - CFB vol 1 # 4, p8


A is the anchor that holds a bold ship,
B is the bowsprit that often does dip,
C is the capstan on which we do wind, and
D is the davits on which the jolly boat hangs.
Oh, hi derry, hey derry, ho derry down,
Give sailors their grog and there's nothing goes wrong,
So merry, so merry, so merry are we,
No matter who's laughing at sailors at sea.


E is the ensign, the red, white, and blue,
F is the fo'c'sle, holds the ship's crew,
G is the gangway on which the mate takes his stand,
H is the hawser that seldom does strand.


I is the irons where the stuns'l boom sits,
J is the jib-boom that often does dip,
K are the keelsons of which you've told, and
L are the lanyards that always will hold.


M is the main mast, so stout and so strong,
N is the north point that never points wrong,
O are the orders of which we must be'ware, and
P are the pumps that cause sailors to swear.


Q is the quadrant, the sun for to take,
R is the riggin' that always does shake,
S is the starboard side of our bold ship, and
T are the topmasts that often do split.


U is the ugliest old Captain of all,
V are the vapours that come with the squall,
W is the windlass on which we do wind, and
X, Y, and Z, well, I can't put in rhyme!
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Seagulls Still Follow on Freedom - words Pat Byrne/music trad.


In Placentia Bay there sat on the shore
A young girl who mourned for her love who's no more
The pride of his manhood is the prize of the sea
And the seagulls still follow on freedom


She reached out her hand to an old man passed by
And she lifted her head with a tear in her eye
Said, "Sit and I'll tell you a tale of some woe
While the seagulls still follow on freedom"


I come from Toronto, upon the mainland
And there's many's a thing here that I don't understand
Like why are these young men still slaves to the sea
When the seagulls still follow on freedom


He said to this young maid, as held her small hand
"The sea and its fury are part of this land
And them who can't take it had better not stay
With the seagulls who follow on freedom"


"Those men who quote figures and count the cause lost
They see on the high seas and the lives it has cost
They don't see the life as we know it to be
Like the seagulls who follow on freedom"


"So they cheat us and they rob us and continue to say
That our only salvation is leaving the bay
But I'll soon be ninety and there's one thing I know
That the seagulls still follow on freedom"
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shoals of Herring - Ewan McColl


With our nets and gear we're faring
On the wild and wasteful ocean
It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring


Oh, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring


Now the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring


Oh, we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was cook and I'd a quarter's sharing
And I used to sleep standing on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring


Well, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'ed taken from the shoals of herring


Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take you turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're following the shoals of herring


In the stormy seas and the living gale
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
While you're following the shoals of herring


Well, I earned me cape and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes
We was following the shoals of herring
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shoals o' Herrin' - Ewan McColl, as sung by the Corries


Wi' our nets and gear we're farin'
On the wild and wistful ocean
It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap oor nets
As we hunt the bonny shoals o' herrin'


T'was a fine and a pleasant summer's day
Outta Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
We were off to hunt the shoals o' herrin'


Now the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment surely took some bearin'
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals o' herrin'


Now we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was cook and I'd a quarter's sharin'
And I used to sleep standin' on my feet
And I'd dream about the shoals o' herrin'


Well we left the home ground in the month of June
And for canny Shiels we were bearin'
Wi' a hundred cran of the silver darlin's
That we'd taken from the shoals o' herrin'


Through the stormy seas and the living gale
Just to earn your daily bread you're darin'
From the Dover straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herrin'


Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearin'
Take you turn on deck wi' the other fellows
As you're following the shoal's o' herrin'


Night and day we're farin'
Come winter wind or winter gale
Sweat or cold, growing up, growing old and dying
As you hunt the bonny shoals o' herrin'
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Snap the Line Tight - Vic Bell


I've got a halibut boat, the openin' is over
The fish just weren't biting, our catch is way down
We're salvagers now, there's logs that are waiting
We pull them off shore and sell them in town, and we'll


Snap the line tight, haul them away
Snap the line tight, she's rockin', she's free
Snap the line tight, haul them away
Slide them off into the sea


She's a six-foot thick hemlock half-sunken in sand
Gotta dig out a hole for to pass the line through
Wrap her around and when she's tied and ready
Then stand clear away while you signal the crew to


And it's thirty-six hours we've been without sleep
Got to boom them by dawn if we're makin' this tide
It's a five hour haul, with a nor'wester blowin'
And a starboard-side swell for a bloody rough ride, so


And our back-decks a mess of anchours and peavies,
All slidin' and tangled in cables and chain
We're in the middle with pike poles and chokers
To wrap the logs tight so they're not lost again, and we


How many thousands of acres of forest
Lie scattered and heaped by the wind and the tide?
The companies cut them and boomed them and lost them,
Then left them to rot where they lie, but we
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spanish Ladies - traditional


Farewell and adieu unto you Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain
For it's we've received orders for to sail for old England
But we hope very soon we shall see you again
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues


We hove our ship to with the wind at sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, our soundings to see
So we rounded and sounded; got forty-five fathoms
We squared our main yard and up channel steered we


Now the first land we made it is called the Deadman
Next Ram Head off Plymouth, off Portland the Wight
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlee and Dungeness
Till we came abreast of the South Foreland Light


Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor
All in the Downs that night for to lie
Then it's stand by your stoppers, see clear your shank-painters,
Haul all your clew garnets, let tacks and sheets fly


Now let every man toss off a full bumper
And let every man drink off a full glass
And we'll drink and be merry and drown melancholy
Singing, here's a good health to each true-hearted lass
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tarry Trousers


As I roved out on a fine summer's evening
To view these flowers and take the air
'Twas there I spied a tender mother
Speaking with her daughter dear


Saying, "Daughter, oh daughter, I'll have you to marry
No longer to live the sweet single life."
"Mother, oh mother, I'd rather to tarry
And be some brave young sailor's wife."


"A sailor shy, he sits for to wander.
To some foreign country he go.
They will cause you to sigh and to murmur,
They will prove your overthrow."


"Oh, would you have me to marry a farmer,
To be your joy and heart's delight.
But give me the lad with the tarry, tarry, trousers
To shine in my eyes like the diamond bright."


She hung her head on the top of her shoulders.
Tears from her eyes like fountains flowed.
"I'll stay at home and be true hearted
While my love to the sea doth go."


"Hark, oh hark, how the great guns rattle,
Big and small, they all make noise.
My true love's in the field of battle.
Now fight on, my gallant boys."
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trim Rigged Doxy - as sung by Jon Gothard, July 19, 1989


I am a sailor both brisk and bold
And a long time have I sailed the ocean
And if you want to know my name
My name it is Jack Johnson
Shipmates I'll bid you adieu
No more to sea will I go along with you
But to ramble this country through and through
And I'll be a ramblin' sailor


When I was a walking out one day
Down by the London River
A pretty little fair maid I chanced to spy
Now we walked along together
Her lips were like two roses red
A fine feather bonnet was covering her head
So I took the harboard on her, she said she was a maid
That saucy little trim-rigged doxy


I shan't and I can't go along with you
You saucy ramblin' sailor
My parents now they would not agree
And I'm promised to a tailor
But I was all too eager to sample all her charms
A dearest guinea to roll in your arms
Well the deal was done, up stairs we went
That's me and the trim-rigged doxy


Well it's all on the bone and let your stays'ls fall
We was yard after yard a boppin'
Me shot-locker empty, it's asleep I fall
Was then that she took to robbin'
She emptied all me pockets of all that I had
She even took the boots from the end of the bed
She even took the gold watch from underneath me head
`That saucy little trim-rigged doxy


Next mornin' bright I awoke
And I started to roar like thunder
For all of me money now, me gold watch too
She'd bore them away for plunder
'Twas not for me money, nor me gold watch too
For these had value, but to tell you true
To think a little fireball could burn me boxty through
That saucy little trim-rigged doxy
To think a little fireball could burn me boxty through
That saucy little trim-rigged doxy
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

True Sailor Boy


Love is the traitor of a sailor's life
He cause the girls to loose their hearts' delight
He cause them to sigh, he cause them to mourn
All for my true love, never to return


Father, father, build me a boat
Out on the ocean I will float
There I'll hail each ship as I pass by
There I'll enquire for my true sailor boy


She went a-sailin' on down the main
She met three ships just out from Spain
There she hailed each ship as she passed by
There she enquired for her true sailor boy


Captain, captain, tell me true
Do my sweet William sail with you
Oh, no fair maid he don't sail here
He's drownded in the Gulf my dear


She ran her boat up against a rock
Thought to all her soul she'd broke her heart
She wrang her hands and tore her hair
Just like some lady in despair


She called for a chair to sit her down
Pen and ink she wrote it down
Oh, the end of every line she dropped a tear
End of every verse was "Oh, my dear"


Father, father, dig my grave
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
Upon my breast a turkle dove
To show to the world that I died for love
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wave Over Wave - Jim Payne


Me name's Able Rogers, a shareman am I
On a three-masted schooner from Twillingate Isle
I've been the world over, north, south, east, and west
But the middle of nowhere's where I like it best


Where it's wave over wave, sea over bow
I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow
There's no other life for a sailor like me
But to sail the salt sea, boys, sail the sea
There's no other life but to sail the salt sea


The work it is hard and the hours are long
My spirit is willing, my back it is strong
And when the work's over then whiskey we'll pour
We'll dance with the girls upon some foreign shore


I'd leave my wife lonely ten months of the year
She made me a home and raised my children dear
But she'd never come out to bid farewell to me
Or ken why a sailor must sail the salt sea


I've sailed the wide oceans four decades or more
And ofttimes I've wondered what I do it for
I don't know the answer, it's pleasure and pain
With life to live over, I'd do it again
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Salty Dog
Sailing Master
Posts: 10060



191991 Gold -

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Where the Coho Flash Silver -- Lloyd Arntzen


From Port Hardy one morning I cast off my line
The sea was all smooth, the weather just fine
Out for Castle Rock, I was headed away
To where the Coho flash silver all over the bay
Where the Coho flash silver all over the bay


It was just before dawn when I reached the fish ground
So I lowered my poles and I let my lines down
I lit up my pipe and I waited and pray
To see the Coho flash silver all over the bay
See the Coho flash silver all over the bay


Well the sun came up shining and so did the fish
Them girdies were humming, what more could I wish
Them bells were all ringing, I was making it pay
Where the Coho flash silver all over the bay (x2)


Well they bit all that morning 'til just after noon
They were so hungry they'd strike at an old leather shoe
"This must be heaven," to myself I did say
Where the Coho flash silver all over the bay (x2)


When I got home that evening they asked "How did you do?"
And I showed them silver darlings two-hundred and two
"Well Tom you're high liner, you're the best here today."
Where the Coho flash silver all over the bay (x2)


Well there's your doctors and lawyers and bankers and more
Your wheelers and dealers with the big deals galore
But let me be a troller and king for a day
Where the Coho flash silver all over the bay (x2)
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