The song you are looking for is called "Shantyman." Every verse follows the pattern shown in the first verse:
SHANTYMAN Written by Bob Watson From The Shanty Crew's 1989 record Stand To Yer Ground (PROP 1885A)
Now modern ships carry mighty funny gear Chorus: And away, get away, you shantyman Ain't seen a halyard in many's a year Chorus: An' they got no use for a shantyman Slick new fittings are all your style Chorus: And away, get away, you shantyman All very clever, but it just ain't right Chorus: An' they got no use for a shantyman
Full chorus: Shantyman, oh, shantyman Who's got a berth for a shantyman? Sing you a song of a world gone wrong When they got no use for a shantyman
Levers to jerk and buttons to press And real live sailors they need them less Pushing on the buttons and hauling on the levers And they got no use for horny-handed heavers
The cargo is stored in a polythene pack Raised and lowered by a dry bollocks jack Floating computer dressed up like a ship Skippered and crewed by a micro chip
Soon they'll be sailing by remote control An' that'll be pleasing to the owners' souls They'll send their ships from dock to dock All sat upon their arses in an office block
New-fangled gear's no use to you When you're off Cape Horn with your fuses blew Then's the time for to curse the day You sent your shantyman away
A sailor's life it once was hard Laid out aloft on a tops'l yard Now it don't matter if the winds blow high You can take force ten with your feet still dry
Old-time ways are forgotten and gone For no-one listens to a shantyman's song Things no longer as they used to be It's the knacker's yard for the likes of me
Listen at night and you might hear A ghostly sound on the quiet air Is it a voice from the distant past Or just a breeze in the radar mast?