Years ago, I used to sing the above song, which I got from Jim Mageehan and Johnnie Collins. When I learnt the words, I heard it as "The cook of our mess, he says we've had it soft..." which seemed totally fine to me. Now I hear people singing "The killock of our mess". I looked up killock and found that it is a small stone anchor enclosed in wood. This seems much less logical, although still nautical. So....is it cook, or is it killock? Who actually wrote the song?

Love Lynne