The Whalefishes
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
It was in the year of forty four
In March the second day
That our gallant ship her anchors weighed
And for the sea they bore away brave boys
And for sea they bore away
And when we came to far Greenland
And to Greenland cold we came
Where there's frost and snow
And the whalefishes blow brave boys
And the whalefishes blow
Our bosun went to topmast high
With his spyglass in his hand.
A whale! there's a whalefish he cried
And she blows at every span brave boys
She blows at every span
Our captain stood on the quarterdeck
And a brave little man was he
Overhaul overhaul on your davit tackles fall
And launch your boats for sea brave boys
And launch your boats for sea
We struck the whale away he went
And he lashed out with his tail
And we lost the boat and five good men
And we never got the whale brave boys
And we did not get that whale
Oh Greenland is an awful place
Where the daylight's seldom seen
Where there's frost and snow
And the whalefishes blow brave boys
And the whalefishes blow
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.
