F
Kinloch MSS, VII, 245. From the recitation of a little boy from Glasgow, who sang it in Grove St., Edinburgh, July, 1826.
1
Greenland, Greenland, is a bonny, bonny place,
Whare there’s neither grief nor flowr,
Whare there’s neither grief nor tier to be seen,
But hills and frost and snow.
2
Up starts the kemp o the ship,
Wi a psalm-book in his hand:
‘Swoom away, swoom away, my merry old boys,
For you’ll never see dry land.’
3
Up starts the gaucy cook,
And a weil gaucy cook was he;
‘I wad na gie aw my pans and my kettles
For aw the lords in the sea.’
4
Up starts the kemp o the ship,
Wi a bottle and a glass intil his hand;
‘Swoom away, swoom away, my merry old sailors,
For you’ll never see dry land.’
5
O the raging seas they row, row, row,
The stormy winds do blow,
As sune as he had gane up to the tap,
As . . . . . low.
A.
62. Qy, that ever we did have?
73,4.
Qy, And in all, there was but poor ninety-five
That ever came alive on shore.?
141. Whilst we in the raging seas do blow.
142. And there lofty minds.
B. b.
21. Then up spoke.
23,4.
I have sixty gallant seamen aboard of my ship,
But none half so gallant as he, as he, as he,
But there’s none half so gallant as he.
Burden:
While the vivid lightnings flash,
And the stormy winds do blow,
While we poor seamen are up, up aloft,
And the landsmen are all down below, below, below,
And the landsmen are all down below.
c.
12. And our ship not far.
63. we all.
64. And sank.
C.
13. Var., a fair pretty maid.
In Old English Ditties, etc. (perhaps Oxenford’s changes):
11. when we set.
13. a fair pretty maid.
24. this night.
34. they will.
41. Then three times round went.
43. they both went down.
44. As she sunk to.
Burden:
4. And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below.
5. And the landsmen were all down below.
6. Wanting.
D. b.
1
On Friday morning as we set sail,
It was not far from land,
O there I espy’d a fair pretty girl,
With the comb and the glass in her hand.
O the stormy winds they did blow,
And the raging seas did roar,
While we poor sailors go up to the top,
And the land-lubbers lie down below.
2
Then up spoke a boy of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken boy was he;
‘I’ve a father and mother in fair Portsmouth town,
And this night they will weep for me.’
3
Then up spoke a man of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken man was he;
‘I have married a wife in fair London town,
And this night a widow she shall be.’
4
Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a valiant man was he;
‘For want of a long-boat we shall all be drowned,’
So she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
5
The moon shone bright, and the stars gave light,
And my mother is looking for me;
She might look, she might weep, with watery eyes,
She might look to the bottom of the sea.
A broadside by Birt, otherwise like Such’s, adds:
Three times round went our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
Three times round went our gallant ship,
Then she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
British Museum, 11621. k. 5 (167).
E. b.
1
O up and spak the bonnie mermaid,
Wi the glass and the kaim in her hand;
‘Reek about, reek about, ye mariners all,
For ye’re not very far from the land.’
F.
32. was she.