PeteM-

Here's the original poem as published by Cicely Fox Smith with references:

Racing Clippers: a Wool Fleet Memory

I've not made much o' my life, Lord knows;
I'm a has-been through an' through,
An' meanin' 's as far as I've mostly got
With the things as I've meant to do;
Of muckin' my chances and blowin' my pay
I reckon I've had my share,
But - I was one of the Clansman's crowd
When she raced the Robin Adair.

There was Dan an' Clancy an' Liverpool Bill –
An' they were the pick of the lot -
An' a Glasgow lad as skenned like mad,
But his name I've clean forgot;
A big buck nigger an' a cross-eyed Swede,
An' a feller from County Clare -
Them was the chaps in the starboard watch
When we raced the Robin Adair.

An' Dan was lost off the topsail yard
O' the Pole Star years ago,
An' Clancy died with a knife in his side
In a dive in Callao;
An' Bill he's married and livin' ashore,
An' the rest of 'em's Lord knows where,
As I sailed with once in the Clansman's crowd
When we raced the Robin Adair.

Neck an' neck to the Snares we was,
An' then it started to blow,
An' soon the Clansman was reelin' 'em off
A steady seventeen or so,
An' the skipper grinned as he paced the poop,
For that was the weather for her,
An' "Ah 'm thenkin' we've seen the last," says he,
"O' their wonderful Robin Adair!"

But there come a time as we climbed the Trade,
The day was just begun
When we sighted a ship hull down astern
An' comin' along like fun,
An' the Old Man clapped his glass to his eye,
An' you should ha' heard him swear,
For out o' the South with a bone in her mouth
Up romps the Robin Adair.

We started pilin' the canvas on,
And it 'ad to stop there too;
It was breezin' up when we sighted 'er first,
An' afore it was dark it blew!
I've seen some carryin' on in my time
But I tell you he made me stare
Crackin' it on in the Biscay gales
To beat the Robin Adair.

But we made the London river at last -
It was twelve by St. George's clock,
I counted the chimes as we made her fast
To the buoys in the London Dock -
An' we'd won the race from the width o' the world
With the tail of a tide to spare -
That was the way of it, long ago,
When we raced the Robin Adair!

The grand ol' ship's been gone to chips
This fourteen year and more;
They sold 'er away to a Dago bunch,
An' the blighters run 'er ashore;
An' somewheres round by the Ramirees
An' south o' the Straits o' Le Maire,
With the fishes cruisin' among her ribs,
Lies drowned the Robin Adair.

There ain't no racin' clippers now,
Nor never will be again,
And most o' the ships are gone by now,
The same as most o' the men,
An' nobody left but a few old shells
Like us in the world to care
For the great ol' skippers an' the great ol' ships
An' the great ol' days they were,
And the way they had in the Wool Fleet once
When we raced the Robin Adair.

Notes:

From Sailor's Delight, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Methuen & Co., London, © 1931, pp. 51-55. First published in Punch Magazine, Volume 173, July 13, 1927, p. 36.

Also known as "Race of Long Ago" as sung through the years by a number of folk singers beginning with Bob Roberts (UK) in 1981 as recorded on his album Breeze for a Bargeman on Solent Records, and more recently by Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman also from the UK. Later adapted for singing by Bob Zentz (US), as recorded on Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream, © 2007.

I do also wonder at some of the changes that have happened in this poem through the years, from Bob Roberts on down. Folk processing does happen and in this case it's happened over 30 years of singing the poem. Some of the changes are inaccurate as you say, and some are not evident "improvements." Others seem to work better, at least when I hear the poem song.

With regard to removing offensive terms for performing before a contemporary audience, the phrase "A big buck nigger" in the 2nd verse merits serious consideration. There is little doubt that sailors of the early 1900's would use such terms, and consider them relatively unoffensive or even colorful, but a performer using such a term today, without explanation, would run the risk of offending a large part of his or her audience. I find it hard to imagine why a performer would want to do that. I don't believe you would advocate singing such a line as composed, but please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble