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I signed aboard this whaling ship, I made my mark it's true,
And I'll serve out the span of time I swore that I would do;
But I'll not man your boats again, though you cast me in the sea,
For I tell you, sir, them fish can think as well as you or me!
Just yesterday the lookout's call had bent us to our work,
I took me place like all the rest, I'd not be one to shirk;
Now thirteen men's been drowned, and no more of them we'll see,
I'd take an oath, them fish can think as well as you and or me!
We pulled our boats abreast the pod, the steersman took his stand,
He had no time to make his throw, when the oar flew from my hand;
Just then a great fluke smashed our boat, that whale I didn't see,
But I believe them fish can think as well as you or me!
For then them whales destroyed our boats,
They rammed them one by one;
They stove them all with head and fluke and after they was done,
We few poor souls left half-alive was clinging to debris.
I'd stake my life them fish can think as well as you or me!
The way them whale fish went for us,
It seemed as though 'twas planned,
For each one had his target boat, they played us man for man;
Just knowing' now they think so clear my heart says let them be,
I swear to God them fish can think as well as you or me!
Now John is blind, Jim's lost an eye, and Caleb's lost below,
My leg will heal but other men no more aloft can go;
So I'll not man your boats again though you drown me in the sea,
For I tell you, sir, them fish can think as well as you or me!
Note: Per Phee Sherline Graydon, Ken Graydon based this fictional song on what could have happened when Charles Melville Scammon, a San Francisco whaling captain, struck whales and was attacked in what is today known as Scammon's Lagoon off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.
