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Oh, come all ye jolly sailor lads before the mast do sail,
'Twould be worth your while a moment to listen to my tale;
And if you pay attention I won't ye long delay,
Till I relate the hardships that do attend at sea.
Being on December the eighteenth, right well I recollect the day,
When Larkins he gave orders for to get underway;
With double-reefed topsails fore and aft, our brig before the wind,
Leaving St. John's, that bonny place, a long distance behind.
The day bein' on the twentieth, the sea it did run high,
And flew wit' all his might while dismal looked the sky;
The morning of the twenty-first a dreadful sea she poked,
That carried away our roundhouse, and her wheel in pieces broke.
Some of the tars hung to the yards her canvas for to clue,
While under three-rigged foresail we 'round our good ship to;
Some of the crew did try the pumps, more with her decks did clear,
And more a reel and tackle got her helm to secure.
For two days and two nights lying to we did remain,
Till our wheel it was completed and fit to run again;
And the wind from the north-nor'west wit' vengeance still it blew,
Our Captain cries, make sail, my b'ys, and we'll see what she can do.
From eight knots to eleven she reeled off till Christmas day,
And ten o'clock in the forenoon she shipped another sea;
It filled her deck from rail to rail the breakers foamed all 'round,
'Twas every man's opinion stern-foremost she'd go down.
The Captain and the wheelsman was on deck at the time,
The rest o' the watch were down below some spare sails for to find;
They did their efforts to get up but it was all in vain,
Wit' the force of water bundling down, her deck they couldn't gain.
For fourteen or fifteen minutes she lay quite motionless,
It did to us great injuries, once more our wheel did smash;
Our compass and binnacle half a rail away it took,
It startled our companion galley's stanchion and bulwark.
But to the Lord we're grateful, relief he did afford,
So quickly it did abate, the next sea it didn't board;
Twenty-seven crowded canvas and before the wind did fly,
The 16th day we were at sea the Rock of Gib-e-ralter she passed by.
It's for our usage, brave boys, come listen unto me,
Perhaps 'twill be a warning for you who'll go to sea;
We oftentimes went hungry rather than for to complain,
Till at length it grew so very hard our allowance was forced to claim.
According to the board of trade our articles were read,
As neat as if it was gold dust we were weighed one pound of bread;
For twenty-four long hours on that a man should do,
Besides pork and beef and tea and coffee wit' sugar allowances, too.
Peter Ansfield, our chief officer, long life wit' him remain,
He oftentimes did pity us and say it was a shame;
To see such l'yal hearted men all treated as we were,
But pinchin'-slyly Captain Larkins sayin' we got our share.
Wit' hearts like oak both stout and bold we agreed wit' one another,
Combined we were, I do declare, as united as brothers;
To starve there on the ocean before Larkins we would say,
Askin' for one morsel but our single pound a day.
So now to conclude and finish, I have little more to say,
For the want of time and learning, once more must go to sea;
Leaving our wives and sweethearts in sorrow for to mourn,
May God above send down his love and grant us a safe return.
If you're inclined my name to find, apply to the alphabet,
The first letter of the twenty-six do belong to it.
The third you may lay on it and after that divide,
The seventh and eighth you may complete, lay on the fifth beside.
The tent' and fourteent' study on the fifteenth, bear in mind,
And the eighteenth letter will situate as you may plainly see;
I have no hesitation to tell you the author's name,
Spoken:
A-C-G-H-E-J-N-O-R, John Grace is this man of little fame.
Collected in 1951 from John M. Curtis of Trepassey, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
John Grace's narrative style of songwriting becomes obvious when this song is compared with a variant of another of his songs, Harkin's Voyage.
From Sailor's Choice Nautical Terms:
Bulwark - a railing around the deck of a boat to keep things from going overboard and the seas from coming aboard.
From The American Heritage Dictionary:
Binnacle - the nonmagnetic stand on which a ship's compass case is supported.
Crowded - spread a large amount of sail to increase speed.
Reefed - reduced the size of a sail by tucking in a part and tying it to or rolling it around a yard to lessen the area exposed to the wind.
Roundhouse - a cabin on the after part of the quarter-deck of a ship.
Stanchion - an upright pole, post, or support.
