From "The Oxford Book of Sea Songs" Roy Palmer

                  Cordial Advice

You merchant men of Billingsgate, I wonder how you can thrive
You bargin with men for 6 months & pay them but for 5
But so long as the water runs under the bridge & the tide doth ebb & flow

Chorus; I'll no more to Greenland sail, no, no, no.

Our drink it is fair weather that floweth from the rocks
And as for other dainties, we eat both bear & fox
Then boil our biscuits in whale oil all to increase ou woe

But I'll no more to Greenland sail, no, no, no.

Our captains & commanders are valiant men & stout
They've fought in France & Flanders & never would give out
They beat our men like stock-fish all to increase our woe

Then I'll no more to Greenland sail, no, no, no.

In storms we must stand to it whenthundering tempests rage
When cables snap & mainmasts split & the briny seas engage
Whilst sable blackness spreads it's veil all to increase our woe

But I'll no more to Greenland sail, no, no, no.

Testy Neptune's mounting waves still o're our hatches tower
Each minute threatens silent graves for fishes to devour
Or be entombed by some vast whale, & there to end our woe

But I'll,,,,,,

To face the cold north-eastern winds whilst shrouds & tackle roar
And man our racking pinnace which mountain high is bore
To larboard, starboard tack we trail, our joints benumbed with snow

But I'll,,,,

Abaft, before, helm a-lee, all hands aloft, they cry
When straight there comes a rolling sea & mounts us to the sky
Like drowned rats we cordage haul scrace we've strength to go

But I'll,,,,
For if we faint or falter to ply our cruel work
The bosun with a halter does beat us like a Turk
Whilst we in vain our case bewail he does increase our woe

But I'll,,,,

Then to our lading in we moil like Argier slaves
And if we to complain begin the capstal lash we have
A cursed cat with thrice three tails does much increase our woe

But I'll,,,,

And when we faint, to bring us back they give us bruis strong
The which does not creepers lack to usher it along
With elementwhich smells so sstale, all to increase our woe

Then I'll,,,,

Therefore young men I advise before it be to late
And then you'll say that you are wise, by dashing of your fate
The which your rashness did entail for to insist your woe

Then I'll,,,,

partical ending notes from Palmer; "THis ballad, printed between 1669 & 1703, & reissued a few yrs later, says far more about the harsh treatment of whalers than of the whales. The tune is now lost.

stock-fish,- codsplit open & dried
racking,- straining
moil,- work
Argier,-Algiers
capstal lash,- capstan lash, (see nipper in glossary)
nipper, - short length of rope used to bind anchor cable to          messanger which went round the capstan
creepers,- weevils

Good luck with this one.

Barry