Songs of the sea and lays of the land

BOLD ROBIN ROVER                    anonymous

Bold Robin Rover

Said to his crew:

“Up with the black flag

And down with the blue!

Up with the Black Boy!

All men to show,

Over the water

And off let us go!”



A man-of-war he hailed us:

“Come under my lee!”

“See you damned,” said the pirate,

“For I'd rather sink at sea ,





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





In the blue water

Far out and free,

Cruising down on the shore

By the coast of Barbary.”



We met the Flying Dutchman,

By midnight he came,

His hull was all of hell fire,

His sails were all o' flame;

Fire on the main-top,

Fire on the bow,

Fire on the gun-deck,

Fire down below!



Four-and-twenty dead men,

Those were the crew,

The devil on the bowsprit

Fiddled as she flew.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





We gave her a broadside

Right in the dip,

Just like a candle,

Out went the ship.



We met a gallant vessel

A-sailing on the sea ,

For mercy, for mercy,

For mercy, she did plea;

But the mercy we gave her

We sunk her in the sea ;

Cruising down on the shore

By the coast of Barbary,



Four-and-twenty Spaniards,

Mighty men of rank,

With their golden ladies

Had to walk the plank,





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Over the gunwale

Into the sea ,

Cruising down on the shore,

By the coast of Barbary.



Oh devil take the captain!

And devil take the ship!

And devil take the cargo!

And devil take the trip!

And devil take the bo'su'n!

And devil take his call!

And devil take the doctor!

And devil take 'em all!



Over the quarter,

Over the sail,

Into the water,

Dead as a nail





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Slung like a biscuit,

Hot as a coal,

Where the sharks may take the body,

And the devil take the soul!



Then spoke Grim Sam of Jersey, “As we've heard

A mermaid or a witch is the same bird,

But of a different feather, so a pirate,

And slaver, is all one for guards to fire at,

For pirates kill and plunder all they catch,

And slavers at the same are just their match;

There ain't no special difference (it was said

That Sam himself well knew the Guinea trade,

And half-way to the devil had sent his soul

By running into Cuba “sacks of coal”)—

And then he sang to us right merrily



More grog !



A slaver's song, which was not writ by me.

Mumbleskumdarknut

        Ughhhrrhhh!  Mumbleskumdarknut!   I must be near a farm for I hear sheep, chickens and cattle and smell them also!  But why in this darkness that even with eyes open can't see, still everything seems to be moving and pounding til my senses all are overcome with to much.  I can feel that the weight of my gold is gone.  Was I robbed?  I remember little but a ship grounded!  Lights and laughter with merry music and ladies dancing and all seemed well!  The owner shouted  all a' round and I felt I was with friends for the first time since I had left my home in Columbus, Ohio.  My beautiful bride and my two children, Robyn and Luke, whose father went to California to find the wealth that was in every paper from Florida to Maine!  Gold, In California, Lying on the ground to be picked up by anyone who can find their way to this place! " Eureka!  I've found it!"  So where am I now? Am I at sea?  A kick to my side sent my wandering mind to the realities at hand!  The pain and a voice that I was to hear for two years and more set me to a trade that I did not aspire to gain.  His name is Fearsy and he is first mate on a vessel from hell named , " The Reefer"!  The cattle I heard meowing after I was adjusting to being " Shanghaiied ", out of San Francisco was headed for China with a load of laundry.  Can you believe that? Because of the  Gold Rush ", and the building of the " Railroad"  there was a period of time in San Francisco where a class of people found it more affordable to send their washing by a slow boat to China and back than to do it them selves?  My gold is gone.  Maybe my claim has been jumped!  I don't know at this time because I am waking up after a " Mickey Finn " and apparently have signed " the articles" of seamanship and now am owned by the ship!  Well, this is before the uncivil war!  I realized that Fearsy was a simple man that was very good at following orders.  He only kicked me the one time because when I realized that we were outside the Farallon's headed more west than I had intended to go I knew I had to get back to my family! I be- friended him and used his friendship to propel me and his-self up to better food and a more responsible life.    I learned ( I was told ) nautical realities faster than any man before the mast before me.  When I returned to California on " The Reefer"  I returned as a bit of an anomaly.  Because I was educated and knew mathematics there was need for me and I learned the skills of navigation.  People aboard ship before and aft the mast placed me in a position to arbitrate the disparity or distance between solvency and active harsh punitive measures that upset the balance of the fluid operation of the owners goals, which was and is profit alone! I sailed with a sick captain from San Franisco to the island of New York around " The Horn"!  We lost four men off that cold harsh frozen tip of converging oceans.  Becalmed at " The Latitudes"!  No wind, just heat.  The hides we had picked up at " Thousand Steps", in Dana point made the owners wealthy.  The captain died two days after arriving at " the Port of New York"!  He was 43 years old.  I think it was malaria from the mosquito that got him.  I never got on with him.  He was a frog.  Never found one I liked.  Still looking, but not that hard.  So, Shanghaied in San Fran.  Sailed half way around the world. Sailing became me.  So here is what you have to look forward to.  The wife and children in Ohio.  The "Claim" in California.  Sailing and the " Uncivil War".  And,of course, what is Fearsy's name and what happened to him.  He is still my friend and is alive and well in my heart!  Arrggguhhh, matey!