My transcription from the recording at YouTube (which, fortunately, provides a clear view of the original record label).


THE ENGINEER
As recorded by Will Fyffe on Regal G 7703, 1921.

VERSE: Perhaps you wonder who I am; I’ll make the fact quite clear.
I’m the boss upon the ship, for I’m the engineer.
The ship can’t sail without me, and no matter where I go,
I’m a regular toff, for I’m … with a … in the engines down below.

CHORUS: And I’m fond of the rolling sea, the roly-poly sea,
And if you were a sailor, you would say the same as me;
And when I get ashore again and I’ve had two or three,
Then I always have the feelin’ that I’m still upon the sea.

RECITATION: When you’re out on a ship in mid-ocean, and the night is dark and drear,
You seldom think of the man down below, the stoker, the engineer;
But I remember once when we were surrounded by fifteen of the German craft,
When a shell from an enemy cruiser spiked(?) up the big gun aft.
We then got a telephone message from from the captain of the ship,
To ram all the German cruisers and try and make no slip.
Handyman Ace(?) and I, Sandy, he was a fellow that came from ...(?).
We sent twelve down below in a minute; man, it was just like a league(?) in a ...(?).
Just then a torpedo struck us; the engine was smashed to bits.
Then … came up with his brother(?); of course, that was the end of Fritz.
Aye, but after the battle was over, the captain said, soft and low:
“Boys, what about poor old Sandy and his mate there down below?”
Aye. and down below they found Sandy, with a smile, laid out on his bunk,
And I was stretched out beside him. and the pair of us both blind drunk! CHORUS TWICE


[This was the first of 3 recordings Fyffe made of this song. If we could find one of the other 2 recordings (from 1926 and ’27) it might help fill in the blanks above.]