Version I know and have sung for ages:

SHOALS OF HERRING - Ewan MacColl)

With our nets and gear we're faring
On the wild and wasteful ocean.
It's out there on the deep that that we harvest and reap our bread
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring

Well it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth Harbour I was farin'
As a cabin Boy on a sailin' Lugger
We were off to hunt the shoals of herring

Now the work was hard and hours were long
And the treatment surely took some bearin'
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring

Well we fished the Swarte and the Broken Bank
I was Cook and I'd a quarter sharing
And I used to sleep standin' on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring

Well we left home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shields we soon were bearin'
Wi' a hundred cran o' the Silver darlin's
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring

You're a grown man now, boy you're on the blue
And you're learnin' all about seafarin'
Aye your education's scraps o' navigation
As you hunt the bonnie shoals of herring

Now you're up on deck you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearin'
Take your turn on watch wi' the other fellows
As you hunt the bonnie shoals of herring

Well I earned me keep and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wearin'
Sailed a million miles caught ten million fishes
As I followed after shoals of herring

Through the stormy seas and the livin' gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're farin'
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you hunt the bonnie shoals of herring

Night and Day we're faring
Come winter calm or winter gale
Sweating or cold, growing up, growing old, and dying
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring.