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I saw a young couple on old Ireland's shore,
Where billows more louder than thunder do roar,
One was a lady, a rich lady fair,
And the other was a sailor embracing his dear.
Said the lady to the sailor, "You're the one I adore,
Oh don't go and leave me to grieve my heart sore."
Said the sailor to the lady, "Your father's so cruel,
He intends for to keep me from the arms of my jewel."
She dressed herself up in a suit of men's clothes,
And straight to her father she instantly goes,
She bought a ship from him and paid like a man,
But little did he know 'twas his own daughter Ann.
Then straight to her true love she instantly goes,
"Make haste and get ready, no time for to lose,
Cast loose your main topsail, bright colours let fly,
And sail over the ocean in the Lady Leroy."
Now when her old father came to understand,
Great vengeance he swore on that clever young man,
He fitted the Ostrich, bright colours let fly,
And swore by Jehovah he would conquer or die.
He had not been sailing past two or three days,
With the wind from the northwest it blew a fine breeze,
He saw a ship sailing, it filled him with joy,
He hailed her and found 'twas the Lady Leroy.
It was broadside to broadside for an hour or more,
Where bullets more thicker than hail-stones did pour.
Stepping up to his true love he stood by her side,
"For the sake of you, Annie, I would conquer or die."
We anchored in Dublin a town of great fame,
We let go our anchor and entered our names,
Her old father was taken a prisoner secure,
What trials and hardships, poor girl, she endured.
We anchored at Dublin the town of great fame,
Those two noble vessels both entered their names,
One was the Ostrich and the other Leroy,
Drink a health to brave Annie and her young sailor boy.
This variant was collected in 1952 from Harry Curtis of Joe Batt's Arm, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.208-209, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
A variant was also published by the Digital Tradition as DT #440, The Lady Leroy.
Another variant was published as #111, The Lady Uri in Ballads And Sea Songs Of Newfoundland by Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf and Grace Yarrow Mansfield (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1933; Folklore Associates, Hatboro, Pennsylvania, 1968).
