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You fishermen free that go forth on the sea,
With your engines of various makes;
This old jump-spark of mine I would take every time,
You can keep all your new make-and-breaks.
She was tied up with twine, there were pistons hard-lined
'Round the timer to keep it in place;
Her compression was weak and the air used to leak,
Where the packin' was blown from the base.
She was easy on fuel but she kicked like a mule,
For the screws on the beddin' were slack;
And we all of us swore when she'd rise from the floor,
We all feared that she'd never come back.
So we lashed her with wire and a motor car tire,
Oh, how we did labour and scote;
And with posts on each side, we earnestly tried,
To keep her from leavin' the boat.
This motor of ours has miraculous powers,
One summer we broke our pump band;
Now they cost quite a lot, so when she got hot,
We cooled off that Coaker by hand.
One evening last fall we went out to our trawl,
Though it looked like 'twas going to blow;
We turned to go in in the teeth of the wind,
With a cross-handed dory in tow.
Tom hove up the wheel and he cussed a good deal,
He cranked till he found of his heart;
He tested the oil, examined the coil,
But the devil of it would she start.
'Twas coming on night, with the seas feather white,
When up to us rowed a small skiff;
And a bedlamer boy with a cast in his eye,
Kindly offered to give us a lift.
That kid stepped aboard with the air of a lord,
His movements unhurried and slow;
He noted the string and the window-blind spring,
But he got that old Coaker to go.
Go, go, he made that thing go,
At first he just ran her dead slow;
She hasn't much speed 'cause the oil don't feed,
But he got that old Coaker to go.
Just a poor homeless lad, he hadn't a dad,
And his name you may never have heard;
But the boat swung about as he opened her out,
And she rose to the waves like a bird.
So, we shipped on that kid, and we're sure glad we did,
Now it is seldom we ask for a tow;
And he gets a full share which I think only fair,
For getting that Coaker to go.
Go, go, he makes that thing go,
How he does it I'm sure I don't know;
We can race with the Clyde and we'll keep her 'longside,
When he coaxes that Coaker to go.
