- Carrying Nelson Home
Ease the bow spring. Gently set the foresheets on the windward side. Let go fore and aft, and as she turns Sail her full and bye to catch the evening tide. Shake out those topsails. Feel the seas roll under that she knows so well Find a star to guide her to the dawn. And then let her greet the long Atlantic swell.
Sing me a shanty, Canta del cabo San Vicente, Chantez des marins du Nile Sing a hymn of Trafalgar.
Stream the log now, For she's heeling with a land breeze to inspire Orange scented from the groves of Andalucia. And within my mind Cadiz still gleams with fire. Give her sea room. Put St. Vincent well astern by break of day Then you shorten sail and harden up those sheets, And close hauled we'll make the Northings slip away.
One point to leeward, For the rolling seas are getting shorter now, They remind me of the lights of far Hyeres, And they tell me Biscay's on the starboard bow. Shake out your reef. For carried on the breeze that's setting fair Are spices from the quays of Lorient, (Lorry on) You can sail her free to weather Finisterre.
Ease your main sheets, For it's soon we'll see the harbour lights of home, Anchor, make-good every sheet and halliard. Remembering just who you have on board. Pipe me ashore, Gently hoist aloft your keg of brandy wine. Make ready to receive the Admiral.s barge. Lower me easy, I'm going ashore one last time. - Tow Rope Girls
Oh, a ship in the Tropics, a-foaming along, With every stitch drawing, the Trade blowing strong, The white caps around her all breaking in spray, For the girls have got hold of her tow-rope today.
An' it's "Haul away, girls, steady an' true, Polly an' Dolly an' Sally and Sue, Mothers an' sisters an' sweethearts an' all, Haul away . . . all the way . . . haul away, haul!"
She.s logging sixteen as she speeds from the South, The wind in her royals, a bone in her mouth, With a wake like a mill-race she rolls on her way, For the girls have got hold of her tow-rope to-day.
The Old Man he stood on the poop at high noon; He paced fore and aft and he whistled a tune, Then put by his sextant and thus he did say: "The girls have got hold of her tow-rope to-day."
"Of cargoes and charters we've had our full share, Of grain and of lumber enough and to spare. Of nitrates at Taltal and rice for Bombay, And the girls have got hold of our tow-rope to-day-ay-ay..."
"She has dipped her yards under, hove to off the Horn, In the fog and the floes she has drifted forlorn, Becalmed in the Doldrums a week long she lay, But the girls have got hold of her tow-rope to-day."
Oh, hear the good Trade wind a-singing aloud, A homeward bound shanty in sheet and in shroud, Oh, hear how he whistles in the halliard and stay, "The girls have got hold of the tow-rope to-day!"
And it's oh! for the chops of the Channel at last, The cheer that goes up when the tug hawser's passed The mate's "That'll do" - and a fourteen months' pay For the girls have got hold of our tow-rope to-day . . . - Emma, Emma
Emma, Emma let me be Roll me down the bay to Juliana Oh, Miss Emma, don't you cry Roll me down the bay to Juliana
Oh, away me bully boys Haul away and make some noise
Oh, the dawning of the day Go ashore and get your pay
Oh, around Cape Horn All through the ice and snow
A land of milk and cheese Where the girls do what they please
Oh, one more and we'll be through We're the ones to kick her through - In Fire Is Iron Born
In fire is iron born by fire it is tamed And like it we are formed by fire all the same Through sweat and tears six thousand years In legend, lore, and fame By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed
The blacksmith stands 'neath spreading oak with a hammer in his hand With a face that's chisled from his stock And castings made of sand Through successive generations we carry on the name By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed
By wind and wiles we are tossed round a molten ball of flame Round silver moon and frost and spark And thunderbolts that rain By fire gold is purified and given a new name By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed
Wind and water, fire and Earth we court them all the same In abundance in the field And the fields of the slain In its time the Divine summoned tongues of flame By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed By fire we are born, by fire we are tamed - Cold Winds
Cold winds blow across the harbor Cold winds on the inland seas Same winds that called our fathers Cold winds are calling me
Ice forms on deck and whiskers Light a fire and stay below Shut up tight, the wind's a whisper Pass the bottle, it's time to go
Rise up, rise up and dog the hatches Mind you rhands, they're cracked and sore Check the lines on your way inland It's time to get a job ashore
Sun and spray, and full moon Autumns Wood and water, frost and stone Early snows make early Winters Taste each season as it goes - The Dead Horse Shanty
And they say, Old Man, you're horse has died And we say so, and we hope so Yeah, the Old Man, your horse has died Poor Old Man!
He's as dead as a nail on the cloakroom door And he won't be here to bother us no more
We'll hoist him up to the main top yard Yeah, we'll hoist him up to the main top yard
And we'll drop down to the bottom of the sea And we'll drop him down to the depths of the sea
For it's straight to the bottom that you must go Where the sharks'll have your belly and the Devil take your soul
And I thought I heard the Old Man say Just one more pull and then belay - Tommy's Gone to Hilo
Tommy's gone what shall I do? Away to Hilo Tommy's gone and I'll go too Tommy's gone to Hilo
Oh, Hilo's down in old Peru It's just the place for me and you
For Tommy's gone from down below And up aloft this yard must go
Tommy's gone we.ll nae're say nay Until the mate calls out "belay!"
Tommy's gone to Callao Spanish girls he'll see (there) I know
I thought I heard the old man say You can go ashore and collect your pay
Tommy's gone what shall I do? Tommy's gone and I'll go too - The Bigler
Come all me boys and listen and a song I'll sing to you It's all about the Bigler and of her jolly crew In Milwaukee last October I chanced to get a sight Of the schooner called the Bigler belonging to Detroit
It was a Sunday morning about the hour of ten The Robert Emmett towed us out into Lake Michigan We set sail where she left us in the middle of the fleet And the wind being from the Southr'd, oh, we had to give her sheet
And it's watch her, catch her jump up in her juber ju Give her sheet and let her slide, the boys will push her through You ought to see us howling as the winds were blowing free... On our passage down to Buffalo from Milwaukee
But the wind chopped 'round the South-Sou'west and blew both fresh and strong And gently through Lake Michigan, the Bigler she rolled on And far beyond her foaming bow the flashing waves did fling With every inch of canvas set, her courses wing and wing
But the wind it came ahead before we reached the Manitous Three dollars and a half a day just suited the Bigler's crew From there unto the Beavers we steered her full and by And we kept her to the wind, me boys, as close as she would lie
We made Skillagalee and Wobble Shanks the entrance to the Straits We might have passed the fleet had they hove to and wait But we drove 'em all before us, the prettiest you ever saw Clear out into Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac
Well, the Sweepstakes she took 8 in tow and all of us fore and aft She towed us down through Lake St. Clair and set us on the flats She parted the Hunter's towline in trying to give relief But stem and stern went the Bigler into the boat they call Mapleleaf
Well, the Sweepstakes then she towed us outside the river light Lake Erie for to roam and the blustering winds to fight And the wind being from the South'rd, oh, we paddled our own canoe With our nose pointed for the dummy, she's hell-bent for Buffalo
And now we're safely landed in Buffalo Creek at last And under Rigg's Elevator the Bigler she's made fast And in some lager beer saloon we'll let the bottle pass For we're all jolly shipmates and we'll take a social glass
Come all me boys, and listen, and a song I'll sing to you. - Dancin' Jimmy Owen
We sailed from Milwauke for old Marquette town With a big load of ore for Lorain. Who thought that the Smith would ever go down As I rode home to Cleveland by train, I rode home to Cleveland by train.
I was sick, I was tired of being the mate, The owners were tired of delay. Captain Owen, whose shoulders had carried the weight, Wired Hawgood they'd soon be away.
Now business is business, neither kind, neither crue,l In fair weather or foul as it may be. When it snowed Hawgood.s daughter was to stay home from school But he ordered Captain Owen to sea; he ordered Jimmy Owen to sea
Why the hatches were open I'll never know. Behind scheduled they steamed past the wall. To the storm or the Keweenaw, no place to go. In a dream they were warned of it all.
Now it's awful the way men struggle for life When death stares them right in the face Pray for your firelight, your children, your wife And a quick end in this God awful place.
You can hand, reef, and steer, work your hands to the bone Be cook, mate, and master or boss. You can sail thirty years like Dancin' Jimmy Owen And lose your life to profit and loss; lose you life to profit and loss.
(Ooops! I'm missing a verse! For the full version get Me for the Inland Lakes by Tom & Chris Kastle. --Tom) - The Jolly Roving Tar
Ships may come and ships may go wherever the seas doth roll Each sailor lad just like his Dad he loves the flowing bowl A trip ashore he does adore to with a girl that's plump and round But when your money's all gone, it's the same old song Get up Jack, John sit down
Come along, come along you There's lots more grog in the jar We'll plough the briny ocean with the Jolly Roving Tar
And when ashore, it's then he'll steer for some old boarding house They'll welcome him with rum and gin, they'll him on pork scouse He'll mend and bend and not offend til he's lying drunk on the ground But when your money's all gone.
And when he's off, it's then he'll steer for the Indias or Japan In Asia there the ladies fair all love the sailor man He'll go ashore and on a tear, he'll buy some gal a gown But when your money's all gone.
When Jack gets old and weather beat, too old to muck about In some grog shop, they'll let him stop til eight bells calls him out He'll reach his eyes up to the sky, saying, "Boys, we're homeward bound" But when your money's all gone. - High Barbary
Look ahead, look astern, to weather and to lee Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we There's a lofty ship to starboard and she.s sailing fast and free All along the coast of High Barbary
Oh are you a pirate or a man of war cried we Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we Oh no, I'm not a pirate but a man of war cried he All along the coast of High Barbary
So back up your topsails and heave your vessel to Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we For we have got some letters to be carried home by you All along the coast of High Barbary
We'll back up our topsails and heave our vessel to Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we But only in some harbor and along the side of you All along the coast of High Barbary
For broadside to broadside we fought all long the day Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we Until at last the frigate shot the pirates' mast away All along the coast of High Barbary
For quarter, for quarter the saucy pirates cried Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we But the quarter that we showed them was to sink them in the tide All along the coast of High Barbary
With cutlass and with gun, we fought for hours three Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we Oh the ship it was their coffin and their grave it was the sea All along the coast of High Barbary
Look ahead, look astern, to weather and to lee Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we There's a lofty ship to starboard and she's sailing fast and free All along the coast of High Barbary - Cappy John's Bride
Now a skipper that we all know who was famous long ago He was looking for a ship as his had gone aground Though it was sometimes stated .twas the way he navigated Ol' Cappy John was rated the finest man around
There was a ship nearby that he wanted for to try It bbelonged to Nedc McKenzie and was called the Mary Beale But old John was shy of girls and the place was full pof curls And he didn't have the nerve to go and make his deal
She carries her bow high and her stern is nice and round It's easy to hold her when she's sheeted down She is my heart's desire and all that I require Is that you let me try her when I come to town
Now the mate whose name was Dan up and says to the old man, "I can sound McKenzie out and clear away the girls. I will see that's it's alright if you want to go tonight For that ship she is a sight, she's the best in all the world."
So Dan goes to McKenzie but somehow in all the frenzy There was some misunderstanding and he got the message wrong Perhaps the silly goomer had a twisted sense of humor But when Cappy came to woo her he was this singing
McKenzie shook his hand and says, "I understand That you want to take my Mary away from me. Now before with you I send her I must tell you she is tender Which I'll thank you to remember when you take her out to sea."
So John says, "Dan must have told that I want to fill her hold With a belly full of cargo I know she'll handle fine. I promise not to break her and if ever I forsake her, Then I know the mate will take her for he's a friend of mine."
Says McKenzie, "Are you mad? For you talk just like a cad To throw my Mary over like some trollop from Rangoon. She isn't just some fun thing (though I might allow some bundling) And now I will tell you one thing you must make your offer soon."
Says John, "I can't commit until one thing you permit You must let me roll her over in the sand beside the bay. I will have my men inspect her and still I may reject her If her bottom's been neglected or has started to decay."
Says McKenzie, "I can't stand it; you are worse than any bandit Since the two of you have planned it 'tis yourselves that should begin." He called Mary from the kitchen; Cappy John he started twitchin. But the girl she was bewitchin. and she smiled as she came in
Now the mate he oiled the water and the skipper got the daughter He's as happy as an otter with his dear and blushing bride. Though it seemed a bright invention, he'd the good sense not to mention That it wasn't his intention, AND HE GOT THE SHIP BESIDES!