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A is the anchor of our jolly ship,
B is the bowsprit for part of our ship;
C is the capstan our sailors go 'round,
D is the David our jolly boat song.
E is the ensign of red white and blue,
F is the fo'c's'le that dwells our ship's crew;
G is the gangway our mate takes his stand,
H is the hawser that never went strand.
I is the iron that binds our ship 'round,
J is the jib boom our hand gear is swung;
K is the keelson that runs fore and aft,
L is the lanyard our backstays are fast.
M is the mainmast that makes our ship roll,
N is the nasty old cook with his stove;
O is the orders that we must obey,
P is the pump that cause sailors to swear.
Q is the quadrant the sun for to take,
R is the rigging that never will break;
S is the starboard side of our good ship,
T is the topsail that never will rip.
U is the ugly old captain of us,
V is the varnish we rubs on our mast;
W for wheel where we all spend our time,
The other three letters I can't bring in rhyme.
So merry so merry so merry are we,
No mortals alive are happier than we;
To me high derry low derry i-derry ding dong,
Give a sailor his grog and there's nothing goes wrong.
Sung by Martin Reddigan (1903-1980) of Calvert, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA). A variant was also collected by Ken Peacock and published as The Sailor's Alphabet in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.885-886, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
