“Big-foot Jack, Chaw-o’-tobacco Jim, Handsome Tom, Red Sandy, and the rest of our jolly friends, then seated themselves and called for cigars. Captain Bill Salt told us to do likewise; and, taking out his pipe, he soon enveloped himself in a comfortable cloud of smoke. Without waiting for the ceremony of an invitation, he gave vent to the following ditty, a copy of which I afterward procured from him:
“‘PARTING MOMENTS.
“‘Farewell, my lovely Nancy, Ten thousand times adjeu! I'm agoing for to cross the ocean In sarch of something new. Come, change a ring wid me, my dear, Come, change a ring wid me; And that will be my fond toaken When I am on the sea— When I am on the sea, And you don't know where I be.
“‘Now one fond kiss, my Nancy dear, Now one fond kiss for me, Before I go for to begin To roam upon the sea. And hear this secret of my heart: Wid the best of my good-will, Be where it may, this poor body, Is yourn, sweet Nancy, still— Is yourn, sweet Nancy, still, Wid the best of my good-will.’
“This song elicited the most rapturous applause. Captain Bill then spun us some tough yarns….”