Lyr. Add: GREENWICH MOORINGS
or- Tom Hawser's Voyage Through Life (Vint.)

1
With timbers green, from childhood's dock
Buoy'd up with youthful notions,
My roving fancy dared to mock
The raging storms of oceans;
Thus braving fear, my mind became
Well sheath'd with emulation,
Tight rigg'd, on board the good ship Fame,
I took an early station;
Nor dreamt, when first I went to sea,
That, after hard endurings,
It so would hap, that Tom should be
Laid up in Greenwich moorings.
2
From boy to man, from clime to clime,
In quest of glory roaming,
I weather'd oft and many a time
Rough gales, and billows foaming;
Where lightnings dread and thunders jar,
Where fever'd seas are rolling;
Where mermaids smile in liquid car,
Mid tempest's coarsest howling.
Still Hawser's heart was rigg'd with glee,
In spite of all endurings;
Nor harboured e'er a thought, that he
Should lie in Greenwich moorings.
3
Whate'er I earn'd by sweat of brow,
Was squander'd soon in folly;
Not one reflection did bestow,
Except on lovely Molly.
But though love's compass still my heart
To Molly's charms directed,
I ne'er from duty did depart,
Nor Britain's fame neglected;
When bit grew scant I went to sea,
And left her fond assurings;
Nor thought my batter'd hulk should be
Laid up in Greenwich moorings.
4
I made my charming girl a vow,
That, barring all miscarriage,
I'd take her, when return'd, in tow,
And plough the seas of marriage:
But sad reverse! Poor Tom no more
To faithless Poll enticing;
My starboard limb was shiver'd sore,
Beyond the power of splicing;
I found the fair one's clouded brow
Obscur'd her late allurings-
'Be gone!' she cried, 'you're fittest now
To lie in Greenwich moorings.'
5
Then to our gracious king I'll drink,
And success to his navy;
Oh, may fell faction quickly sink,
Deep grappled by old Davy!
And here's to every gallant tar,
Brave soldier, and just trader;
In peace if Britain's kind, in war
He'll check each bold invader;
With two limbs less than God gave me,
I smile at past endurings,
And booze my can of grog with glee,
Laid up in Greenwich moorings.

Attrib. to 'Vint.' in "Universal Songster." No author found.

There are a number of 18th-19th c. songs and poems about loss of limbs and being laid up on shore; forerunners to "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye," and "The Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda.'"
A home for naval veterans was at Greenwich.
The old church at Stepney (Stebbon-heath) was the site for many marriages between sailors and their women. In slang such a marriage, carried out for little money and without expensive pomp, became known as a 'Greenwich Mooring.'
A story about marriages at Stepney Church (1839) at Stepney marriages

Sources:
The Universal Songster; or Museum of Mirth:..., 3 volumes, London, Jones & Co., vol. 1, pp. 143-144; also published by George Routledge and Sons, London. Various printings, first half 19th c.

Oliver Oldschool, 1806, Port Folio, n. s., vol. 2, pp. 74-75, John Watts, Philadelphia (on line).

Julia H. L. De Vaynes, ed., 1882, The Kentish Garland, vol. 2, pp. 739-741, Stephen Austin & Sons (on line).

Harding B (25 (779), bet. 1802-1819, J. Pitt, Seven Dials. Bodleian Broadside Collection.

A Garland of Excellent New Songs, this one attrib. to Mr. Vint., Newcastle, c. 1760 acc. to National Library of Scotland. I couldn't find it at their website.

I couldn't find music or that it had been sung, although it is called a 'song' in several printings.
One American site listed this song as a 'favorite of Dibdin's (which of the three poets not specified) and essentially attributes it to 'Dibdin,' but "Greenwich Moorings, or ...") is not included in the "Songs" as published by Thomas Dibdin in 1842.