The Ship in Distress

You seamen bold that plough the ocean,
What dangers landsmen do never know.
The sun gangs over old England's nation;
No tongue can tell what you go through.
Through bitter storms in the height of battle,
Now mark you well what I do say,
Where thund'ring cannons loudly rattle
There's no back door to run away.

Of a merchant ship there was a captain;
A long time they bad been drove on sea.
The weather proved to them so uncertain,
Which brought them to extremity.
Nothing on board poor souls to nourish,
Nor to strengthen their feeble arms;
The whole ship's crew were nearly starving,
The men were nothing but skin and bone.
The cats and dogs how they did eat them,
Hunger proving to them severe;
Captain and men of one direction
They all of them went equal shares.
At length, at length the hour came on them,
The hour came on them most bitterly.
Poor fellows all stood titter totter,
Casting lots which of them should die.

The lot was cast on one poor fellow
Which had a wife at home on shore,
But to think of eating our fellow creatures
It was that which grieved us ten times more.
'l am willing to die,'this young man answered,
But to the topmast haste away,
For perhaps some help you may discover
While I unto the Lord do pray.'

The captain said he spied a vessel
About a league from us or more,
Some signals of distress were fired
And soon for us away she bore.
And soon we got provisions plenty,
And far from all such deadly fear,
To see such pity they took upon us
You could not help but shed a tear.

But now we're happy in old England
And far from all such deadly fear,
We'll drink unto our wives and sweethearts
And unto all we love so dear.
May God protect all jolly sailors
And all that plough the raging main;
May they never see no more such trials
And never know the like again.
From Oxford Book of Sea Songs, Palmer
Somewhat different version recorded by Killen, 40 North to 40
North and by Lloyd (Haul on the Bowline)?
@sailor @cannibal
filename[ SHPDSTRS
play.exe SHPDSTRS
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===DOCUMENT BOUNDARY




» ATL Tales-Ride Wit Mefeat Ja Rule
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» Blood Red Roses
» Bring Em Down
» Caddillac Love
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» Corpus Christi Carol
» Droomvrouw
» Dumiama Dingiama Dumiama Day
» Elke Stap
» Feelin You
» Feels So Right
» Fish On The Ocean
» Forever Song
» Haul Away For Rosie
» Haul On The Bowline
» Heave Away Me Johnnies
» Heres To The Grog
» Hey Young Girl
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» Human
» Husband With No Courage In Him
» Hustlerfeat Chink Santana
» I'm A G
» I-m A G
» Listening For Whispers
» Mccassery
» Miss Lady (Interlude)
» Mr Warner
» My Life
» New South Wales
» Nine Times A Night
» Oh Shepherd Oh Shepherd Or The Sheep Are In The Wi
» Oh Shepherd Oh Shepherd or the Sheep Are in the Wilderness
» One Night As I Lay On My Bed
» Oxford City Jealous Lover
» Prince Heathen
» Rosin The Beau
» Rounding The Horn
» Santy Anna
» SOUTHSIDE
» Southside (Remix)
» Southsidefeat Ashanti
» Sweet Dreams
» Take It Low
» The Black Ball Line
» The Blackleg Miners
» The Bold Black And Tan
» The Coast Of Peru
» The Liverpool Judies
» The Mermaid
» The Molecatcher
» The Road To Gundagai
» The Seven Joys Of Mary
» The Sheep Stealer
» The Ship In Distress
» The Troopers Horse
» The Two Magicians
» The Wanton Seed
» This Way
» Trancefeat Lil Wayne
» Under Her Apron
» Voor Geen Miljoen
» Waggoner
» We Will All Go Together When We Go
» Well Rant And Well Roar
» Ye Marners All
» Yesterday

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