Verse 1

Come all ye lads, draw near to me
That I be not forsaken
This day was lost the JEANNIE C.
And my living has been taken

I'll go to sea no more

Verse 2

We set out this day in the bright sunrise
The same as any other
My son and I and old John Price
In the boat named for my mother


verse 3

Now, it's well you know how the fishing has been
It's been scarce and hard and cruel
But this day, by God, we sure caught cod
And we sang and laughed like fools


Verse 4

I'll never know just what we struck
But strike we did like thunder
John Price gave a cry and pitched overside
Now it's forever he's gone under


Verse 5

A leak we've sprung, let there be no delay
If the JEANNIE C. we're saving
John Price is drowned and slipped away
I'll patch the hole while you're bailing


Verse 6

But no hole I found from bow to hold
No rock it was that got her
But what I saw made my heart stop cold
For every seam poured water



Verse 7

My God, I cried as she went down
That boat was like no other
My father built her when I was nine
And named her for my mother


Verse 8

And sure, I could have another built
In the boatshop down in Dover
But I would not love the keel they laid
Like the one the waves roll over


Verse 9

So come all ye lads, draw near to me
That I be not forsaken
This day was lost the JEANNIE C.
And my whole life has been taken



The Rhyming pattern in verse 1 not counting the refrain

1 ABAB
2 ABAB Correct the line to sunrise and the pattern works.
3 ABCB
4 ABCB
5 ABAB
6 ABAB
7 ABCB
8 ABCB
9 ABAB

Seems to me there is a solid rhyming pattern.

Don