Yes, semi-submersible, ships of the line carried a lot of people, however, five hundred seems a little bit stretched even for a man-o'-war. (Not seventy-five, of course.) I was thinking of a different thing, that this kind of exaggeration seems quite in the line of shanties - take the Irish Rover, for one: On the Fourth of July, 1806 We set sail from the sweet Cobh of Cork We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the Grand City Hall in New York 'Twas a wonderful craft She was rigged fore and aft And oh, how the wild wind drove her She stood several blasts She had twenty seven masts And they called her The Irish Rover We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags We had two million barrels of stones We had three million sides of old blind horses hides' We had four million barrels of bones We had five million hogs six million dogs Seven million barrels of porter We had eight million barrels of old nanny goate tails In the hold of the Irish Rover http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Irish-Rover-with-The-Dubliners-lyrics-Pogues/07732FED8885095A48256A2600145F4B
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