Here's a jolly soliloquy from an old captain by Bill Adams:

From WIND IN THE TOPSAILS, edited by Bill Adams, published by George G. Harrap & Co., London, UK, © 1931, pp. 22-23.

CAPTAIN

Give me a tub, a dirty tub,
Most any old tub will do,
A hard old hooker with decks to scrub
And a beardy, black-lipped crew;
A wrinkled gang from a bowery den,
And my teak belaying-pin,
And I will furbish them into men
Ere again I fetch her in.

Give me the tide at dawning's flood,
And the red-stack tug before,
And the mid-March skies all flecked wi' blood,
And the lights turned out ashore;
A hard old barque wi' an evil name,
For I, I be even so;
Man and his woman should be the same,
And the ships be all I know.

I am not one for kisses, nor
I never was one for drink;
But I likes right well the dank foreshore
Where slippery sea-growths stink;
I likes right well the decks o' ships,
And I likes right well to see
The black-beard oaths upon the lips
O' the men who curse at me.

I likes the sky at sea afar,
And I likes to feel her go;
And I likes to watch each glinting star
Where thundering big winds blow;
I likes a barque, most any old tub,
Most any old tub will do,
A dirty barque wi' her decks to scrub,
And a murdered-eyed crew.

I likes to hear 'em rage and swear,
And curse at the likes o' me;
I likes to hearken while they declare,
"I be done wi' ships and sea!"
For well I know they must each one track
To the old pierhead ag'in;
And I, I will welcome each one back
Wi' my teak belaying-pin!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble