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'Twas in a place called Wild Bay where we was distressèd so,
All among a land of savages we knew not where to go;
Where they had been stripped naked and they stripped us likewise,
Not sparing the captain's lady, was deaf unto her cries.
Our small boats they took from us, we could not well relieve,
The heads and entrails of the fish they gave us for to eat;
They drove us without mercy, before them we must fly,
Not sparing the captain's lady, was deaf unto her cries.
We had one black man among us and Joseph was his name,
He being of their own color would not touch him for the same;
Although he being a colored man, both gallant, stout, and brave,
He told the captain's lady that her life he would try and save.
About a-two days later our small boats stole away,
Two nights and two days we were land' in Morphan's Bay,
Where the black man got his freedom for the deed that he had done,
And the captain's lady arrived safe home unto fair London town.
Collected in 1958 from Everett Bennett of St. Paul's, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.775-776, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
Kenneth Peacock noted that he was unable to find any reference to this ballad in the better-known collections. It possibly dates from the days of the African slave-trade; or, the incident might have taken place on the coast of Australia. The place-names are spelled as they were pronounced.
