Somehow I managed to erase a couple of lines from the lyric I was enquiring about.Looking at the Clague collection again now (photocopy from the Manx Museum - the collection was made by Dr Clague in 1893/4), the first verse as pencilled in by him appears to go:
When I was young and in my prime
To the seas I had to roam.
My friends . . . . . . . did combine
To part me from my home.
To Belfast town they did me bring
Without any more delay,
And on board of the Union(?) my passage paid,
Bound for America.Any information gratefully received.
Gura mie eu,
Bobby Bob
Messages moved from the When I Was In My Prime thread, which is about a different song.
-Joe Offer-