Poor Joe The Marine
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com - john ashley 1839
Poor Joe the marine was at Portsmouth well known
No lad in the corps dressed so smart
The lasses never looked at the lad with a frown
His manliness won every heart
Sweet Polly at Portsmouth he took for his bride
And surely there never was seen
A couple so gay march to church, side by side
As Polly and Joe the marine
The bright torch of Hymen was scarce in a blaze
When thundering drums they heard rattle
And Joe in an instant was forced to the seas
To give a bold enemy battle
The action was dreadful each ship a mere wreck
Such slaughter few sailors have seen
Two hundred brave fellows lay strewed on the deck
And among them poor Joe the marine
But victory faithful to brave British tars
At length put an end to the fight
Then homeward they steered full of glory and scars
And soon had famed Portsmouth in sight
The ramparts were crowded the heroes to greet
And foremost sweet Polly was seen
But the very first sailor she chanced for to meet
Told the fate of poor Joe the marine
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
