Kipling has it sung by one of the fishermen in _Captains Courageous_, with fiddle accompaniment:

...Tom Platt launching into almost dolorous tune, like unto the moaning of winds and the creaking of masts. With his eyes fixed on the beams above, Disko began this ancient, ancient ditty [about 30 years old at the time, I guess %^)], Tom Platt flourishing all around him to make the tune and words fit a little:

"There is a crack packet -- crack packet of fame,

She hails from Noo York, an' the _Dreadnought_'s her name,

You may talk o' your fliers -- Swallow-tail and Black Ball --

But the _Dreadnought_'s the packet that can beat them all.

"Now the _Dreadnought_ she lies in the River Mersey,

Because of the tug-boat to take her to sea;

But when she's off soundings you shortly will know

(_Chorus._)

She's the Liverpool packet -- O Lord, let her go!

"Now the _Dreadnought_ she's howlin' crost the Banks o' Newfoundland,

Where the water's all shallow and the bottom's all sand.

Sez all the little fishes that swim to and fro:

(_Chorus._)

`She's the Liverpool packet -- O Lord, let her got!'"

There were scores of verses, for he worked the _Dreadnought_ every mile of the way between Liverpool and New York as conscientiously as though he were on her deck, and the accordion pumped and the fiddle squeaked beside him....

--- Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

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