Greenland Whale Fishery

We can no longer stay on shore,
Since we are so deep in debt;
So a voyage to Greenland we will go,
Some money for to get--brave boys.

Now when we lay at Liverpool,
Our good-like ship to man,
'Twas there our names were all wrote down,
And were bound for Greenland--brave boys.

In eighteen hundred and twenty-four,
On March the twenty-third,
We hoisted our colours up to our mast-head,
And for Greenland bore away--brave boys.

But when we came to Greenland,
Our good-like ship to moor,
O then we wish'd ourselves back again,
With our friends upon the shore--brave boys.

The boatswain went to the mast-head,
With his spy-glass in his hand,
"Here's a whale, a whale, a whale," he cried,
"And she blows on every spring--brave boys."

The Captain on the quarter deck,
(A very good man was he),
"Overhaul, overhaul, your boat tackle-fall,
And launch your boats to sea--brave boys."

The boats being launch'd and the hands got in,
The whale fishes appeared in view,
Resolved was the whole boat's crew
To steer where the whale fish blew--brave boys.

The whale being struck and the line paid on,
She gave a flash with her tail,
She capsized the boat and lost five men,
Nor did we catch the whale--brave boys.

Bad news unto our Captain brought,
That we had lost the 'prentice boys;
He hearing of the dreadful news,
His colours down did haul--brave boys.

The losing of this whale, brave boys,
Did grieve his heart full sore,
But losing of his five brave men,
Did grieve him ten times more--brave boys.

"Come, weigh your anchor, my brave boys,
For the winter star I see;
It is time we should leave this cold country
And for England bear away--brave boys."

For Greenland is a barren place,
Neither light nor day to be seen,
Nought but ice and snow where the whale fish blew
And the day-light's seldom seen--brave boys.