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We got up steam the ninth of March and then we sailed away,
And soon was cutting through the gap for the Northern patch that day;
We left the Eagle in our wake when rounding Baccalieu,
The Neptune and the Thetis, boys, and all her hardy crew.
Oh, didn't we ramble; oh, didn't we ramble;
We rambled all around, in and over the ground;
Oh, didn't we ramble, scramble,
But the devil a sign of Cotton's patch we found.
I was in the barrel all the day and nearly half the night,
But not a sign of Cotton's patch did ever meet might sight;
At last I said to Wesley Kean, I think we missed the fat,
May the devil haul you, Cotton, are you talking through your hat.
Oh, didn't we ramble; oh, didn't we ramble;
We rambled all around, in and over the ground;
Oh, didn't we ramble, scramble,
But the devil a sign of Cotton's patch we found.
I walked nine miles on broken ice, and frozen to the chin,
And like a frozen crackie, to my ear holes fallin' in;
I turned a stone on Cotton's patch and said to Mr. Cave,
They are gone on board the Neptune, to George Barbour for a shave.
Oh, didn't we ramble; oh, didn't we ramble;
We rambled all around, in and over the ground;
Oh, didn't we ramble, scramble,
But the devil a sign of Cotton's patch we found.
We then reeled up and put for home, we didn't strike the batch,
We didn't see a cotton, nor half a wincey patch;
The only patch I saw this spring, and saw it every day,
Was the patch on Tapper's trousers, he had sewn on in Torbay.
Oh, didn't we ramble; oh, didn't we ramble;
We rambled all around, in and over the ground;
Oh, didn't we ramble, scramble,
But the devil a sign of Cotton's patch we found.
Published in Burke's Ballads, pp.14-15, c.1960, compiled by John White and archived at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Libraries, Centre For Newfoundland Studies - Digitized Books collection.
See more songs by Johnny Burke.
From De-Burking Johnny Burke, an Excluded Canadian Troubadour by Paul Mathew St. Pierre:
Cotton's Patch - burlesque of Major Sydney Cotton's attempt to locate the main patch of seals off the Atlantic coast.
From Princeton University's WordNet:
Wincey - plain or twilled fabric of wool and cotton used especially for warm shirts or skirts and pajamas.
From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
Barrel - protective enclosure on mast from which a man scans the sea for seals, whales, etc; crow's nest; parlour.
Crackie - small, noisy mongrel dog; frequently in the phrase 'saucy as a cracky', applied to a person who usually has a saucy tongue or a person who will answer back.
Northern Patch - concentration of harp or hooded seals breeding on the ice-floes off Labrador and the north-east coast of Newfoundland; patch.
