KELLY THE PIRATE (BOLD PRINCESS ROYAL)

On the eighth day of June from the land we set sail
In the bold Princess Royal bound for New Orleans.
And forty bold seamen being our ship's company
With the wind from the South to the West steered we.

We scarce had been sailing for days two or three,
When the man from our top-mast strange colours did see.
He came bearing down on us with his main-sheet so high,
And out from his mizzen-peak those colours did fly.

Our mate he came aft and he judged her all round:
'This is Kelly, the pirate; I'11 bet fifty pound.'
He said:'Drop your top-sails and heave your ship to,
For I am a packet with letters for you.'

'Now I won't drop my top-sails or heave my ship to;
It'll be in some harbour but not 'longside you.
He chased and he fired, but he did not prevail,
For the bold Princess Royal soon showed them her tail.

Come down to your dinner boys, come down every man;
Come down to your grog for the pirate is gone.
Half barrels of rum like salt water did flow:
Drink a health to your wives and your sweethearts also.

From Irish Songs of the Sea
DT #410
Laws K29
@pirate @sailor
filename[ PRNCRYL3
TUNE FILE: PRNCRYL3
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
oct99
mudcat.org

---

PLEASE NOTE: Because of the volunteer nature of The Digital Tradition, it is difficult to ensure proper attribution and copyright information for every song included. Please assume that any song which lists a composer is copyrighted ©. You MUST aquire proper license before using these songs for ANY commercial purpose. If you have any additional information or corrections to the credit or copyright information included, please e-mail those additions or corrections to us (along with the song title as indexed) so that we can update the database as soon as possible. Thank You.