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THE GREENLAND WHALE FISHERY We can no longer stay on shore, Since we're so deep in debt, So a voyage to Greenland we will go, Some money for to get - brave boys. Now when we lay at Liverpool Our good like ship to man, 'Twas there our names were all wrote down, And we're bound for Greenland - brave boys. In eighteen hundred and twenty four, On March the twenty third, We hoisted our colours up to our Mast-head, And for Greenland bore away - brave boys. But when we came to Greenland, Our good like ship to moor, Oh, then we wished ourselves back again With our friends upon the shore - brave boys. The boatswain went to the mast head, With his spy-glass in his hand, Here's a whale, a whale, a whale, he cried, And she blows on every spring - brave boys. The Captain on the quarter deck, (A very good man was he), Overhaul, overhaul, your boat tackle fall, And launch your boats to sea - brave boys. The boats being launch'd, and the hands got in, The whale fishes appeared in view, Resolved was the whole boats' crew, To steer where the whale fish blew - brave boys. The whale being struck, and the whale paid on, She gave a flash with her tail, She capsized the boat, and lost five men, Nor did we catch the whale - brave boys. Bad news unto our Captain brought, That we had lost the 'Prentice boys, He, hearing of this dreadful news, His colours down did haul - brave boys. The losing of this whale, brave boys, Did grieve his heart full sore, But losing of his five brave men, Did grieve him ten times more - brave boys. Come, weigh your anchors, my brave boys, For the winter star I see, It's time we should leave this cold country, And for England bear away - brave boys. For Greenland is a barren place, Neither light nor day to be seen, Nought but ice and snow where the whale fish blow, And the daylight seldom seen - brave boys. Source: "Real Sailor Songs'" John Ashton, London, 1891 (1972 reissue) DT #321 Laws K21 see also GREENLAN @sailor @work @death @animal @whaling filename[ GRENFIS5 JRO Apr01 |
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