A DROP OF THE CREATURE. ask would you come for to go How a true-hearted tar you'd discern, He's as honest a fellow, I'd have you to know, As e'er stept between stem and stern: In his station amidships, or fore, or aft, Cast off, belay, Aloft, alow, Avast, yo ho! And hand, reef, and steer, Know each halliard and gear, And of duty every rig; But his joy and delight Is on Saturday night A drop of the creature to swig. The first voyage I made to sea, One day as I hove the lead, The main-top-gallant-mast went by the lee, Tumble up there, bear a hand, turn to, Cast off, belay, Aloft, yo ho! And hand, reef, and steer, Know each halliard and gear, And of duty every rig; A drop of the creature to swig. There was Kit with a cast in his eye, And shambling Will, for he hobbled awry, Three lads, though crazy grown and crank, For they'd pull away, Cast off, belay, Aloft, alow, Avast, yo ho! And hand, reef, and steer, Know each halliard and gear, And of duty every rig; But their joy and delight Was on Saturday night A drop of the creature to swig. Then over life's ocean I'll jog, Let the storm or the Spaniards come on, So but sea-room I get and a skinful of grog, I fear neither devil nor Don; For I am the man that's spract and daft, Cast off, belay, Aloft, alow, Avast, yo ho! And hand, reef, and steer, Know each halliard and gear, And of duty every rig; Is on Saturday night A drop of the creature to swig. THE ANCHOR A-PEAK. BE one of they sailors who think 'tis no lie, That for every wherefore of life there's a why; That be Fortune's strange weather a calm or a squall, When astride on the yard the toplifts they let go, Why now that there cruise that we made off the Banks, Where I pepper'd the foe, and got shot for my thanks, What then? she soon struck, and though crippled on shore, And laid up to refit, I had shiners galore. At length, live and looking, I tried the false main, And to get more prize money got shot at again; Thus the good we should cherish, &c. Then, just as it comes, take the bad with the good, One man's spoon's made of silver, another's of wood; What's poison for one man's another man's balm, Some are safe in a storm, and some lost in a calm; Some are rolling in riches, and some not worth a souse, To-day we eat beef, and to-morrow lobscouse; LITTLE BEN. ESPLENDENT gleam'd the ample Reflected on the glittering lee, The bell proclaim'd night's awful noon, And scarce a ripple shook the sea; When thus, for sailors, Nature's care, What education has denied, Are of strong sense, a bounteous share, Little Ben that kept his watch in the main-top. Why should the hardy tar complain? Though roaring seas run mountains high, If there's a Power that never errs, For honest hearts what comforts drop, Why not take in tow Little Ben that keeps his watch in the main-top? What though to distant climes I roam, And longs that little Ben may soon For honest hearts what comforts drop, Will surely take in tow Little Ben that keeps his watch in the main-top. |