THE ALABAMA (1)
(from the singing of Richard Maitland)
(Doerflinger - 'Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman' - pp 35-36)

When the Al-a-bam-a's keel was laid
[Roll, Al-a-bam-a, Roll!]
They laid her keel in Birk-en-head,
[Oh, Roll, Al-a-bam-a, Roll!]

Oh, she was built at Birkenhead,
she was built in the yard of Jonathan Laird.

And down the Mersey she rolled away,
And Britain supplied her with men and guns

And she sailed away in search of a prize,
And when she came to the port of Cherbourg,

It was there she met with the little Kearsarge.
It was there she met the Ke-arsarge.

It was off Cherbourg harbor in April, '65,
That the Alabama went to a timely grave.