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On the noble fleet of whalers out sailing from Dundee,
Well manned by British sailors to work them on the sea;
On the western ocean passage none with them can compare,
For there's not a ship could make the trip as the Balena, I declare.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free,
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee;
Can beat the aul' Balena and you needna try her on,
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. John's.
There's the new built Terra Nova, she's a model with no doubt,
There's the Arctic and Aurora, you've heard so much about;
There's Jacklin's model mail-boat, the terror of the sea,
Couldn't beat the aul' Balena boys, on a passage from Dundee.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free,
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee;
Can beat the aul' Balena and you needna try her on,
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. John's.
And it happened on the Thursday four days after we left Dundee,
Was carried off the quarter boats all in a raging sea;
That took away our bulwark, our stanchions and our rails,
And left the whole concern boys, a-floating in the gales.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free,
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee;
Can beat the aul' Balena and you needna try her on,
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. John's.
Bold Jacklin carries canvas and fairly raises steam,
And Captain Guy's a daring boy, goes ploughing through the stream;
But Millan says the Eskimo could beat the bloomin' lot,
But to beat the aul' Balena boys, they'd find it rather hot.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free,
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee;
Can beat the aul' Balena and you needna try her on,
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. John's.
An' now that we've landed, boys, where the rum is mighty cheap,
We'll drink success to the Capt'n, for gettin' us o'er the deep;
And a health to all our sweathearts, an' to our wives so fair,
Not another ship could make that trip but the Balena, I declare.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free,
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee;
Can beat the aul' Balena and you needna try her on,
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. John's.
Old Polina was published in Gerald S. Doyle's Old-Time Songs And Poetry Of Newfoundland: Songs Of The People From The Days Of Our Forefathers (Third edition, pp.44-45, 1955).
The YouTube video above features a performance of a variant by Travis Hatcher of Labrador and Nova Scotia.
