A Boatswain's Life For Me (Collected by MacEdward Leach)

Spoken:

The moon shone bright at twelve that night,
From old King's Island thrust her light;
With a watch on deck and a watch in bed,
Goin' east-half-south for Hollyhead.

Then it's oh, boatswain, call the watch,
Sound your whistle shrill,
Eight bells newly struck,
Turn out with a will;
Hoist the mains'l square those yards,
Let your ship go free,
Of all the lives upon the sea,
A boatswain's life for me.

Spoken:

Turn them out, our Captain cried.
It's Sunday, sir, the mate replied.
What is Sunday but a name,
Another day to me is just the same;
Turn the men out and make them work,
And work the scurvy out of their bones.

Eight bells was struck when Jack awoke,
Before the dawn of day was broke;
He grasped, he strove, he bent his knees but not in prayer,
Damn and bugger the man that sent him there.

####.... Author unknown. Original Newfoundland song ....####

Collected in 1951 from Tom Cornelly, possibly of St. Shott's, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

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