Yo-ho-ha and a bottle of rum.
††††
September 20, 1914.
ANSWERS FROM READERS
W. L.—The verse about which Edward Alden inquired in your issue of July 26. and which is quoted in Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” is the opening stanza of an old song or chantey of West Indian piracy, which is believed to have originated from the wreck of an English buccaneer on a cay in the Caribbean Sea known as “The Dead Man’s Chest.” The cay was so named from its fancied resemblance to the old sailors’ sea chest which held his scanty belongings. The song or chantey was familiar to deep-sea sailors many years ago. The song is copied from a very old scrapbook, in which the author’s name was not given. The verses† † To observe liberties taken with the text, compare these verses with authentic version. are as follows:
Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest.
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
The mate was fixed by the bo’sun’s pike