This is a better place than the thread I first posted it to.

Manchester Guardian (Aug. 17, 1905):

"One [chantey], I remember, ran as follows:-

O! where do you think this ship is bound to?
       O haul! my bully boys, haul!
O! she is bound for the coast of Guinea!
             CHORUS
O! what do you think she has for cargo?
             CHORUS
O! chains and shackles for poor niggers.
             CHORUS"

The correspondent doesn't say when he heard this, but t was presumably many years earlier. The text relates to the slave-trade verses first printed by Whall in 1910.

Collected by Robert W. Gordon from J. A. S. Spencer, perhaps in Darien, Ga., 1926:

The prettiest girl in Doboy town,
Blow, boys, blow.
Her name is fancy Nellie Brown,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

Heave her high and let her go,
Blow, boys, blow.
Heave her high and let her blow,
Oh, blow, my bully boys, blow.

The prettiest girl I ever knew,
Blow, boys, blow.
She wear the red morocco shoe,
Oh, blow, my bully boys, blow.

The prettiest girl I ever saw,
Blow, boys, blow.
She's always riding the white horse.
Oh, blow, my bully boys, blow.

The prettiest boy in Doboy town,
Blow, boys, blow.
His name is Little Johnny Brown,
Oh blow, my bully boys, blow.

Heave her high and let her go,
Blow, boys, blow.
Heave her high and jam her low,
Oh, blow, my bully boys, blow.



Doboy Island is on the Georgia coast, about halfway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla. Now deserted, it formerly supported a minor timber-lading port.


Recorded by Robert W. Gordon from A. Wilkins, place unknown, ca1931:

Oh, blow, my boys, for I love to hear you,
Blow, boys, blow;
Oh blow, my boys, for I long to hear you,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

Oh, a Yankee ship droppin' down the river,
Blow, boys, blow;
It's a Yankee ship droppin' down the river,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

Now, how do you know she's a Yankee clipper?
Blow, boys, blow;
Her spars and decks they shine like silver,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

Oh, who do you think was the chief mate of her?
Blow, boys, blow;
Oh, Skys'l Taylor, the Frisco slugger,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

And who do you think was the chief cook of her?
Blow, boys, blow;
Oh, big Black Sam, the Baltimore nigger,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

And what do you think we had for dinner?
Blow, boys, blow;
A monkey's legs and a monkey's liver,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.

And what do you think we had for supper?
Blow, boys, blow;
The starboard side of an old sou'wester,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.