I'm out to rouse the town this night as any man may be
That's just come off a salvage job, my lad, the same as me....
"Bringin' home the Rio Grande, her as used to be
Crack o' Moore, Mackellar's Line, back in ninety-three;
First of all the 'Frisco fleet, home in ninety-eight,
Ninety days to Carrick Roads from the Golden Gate;
Thirty shellbacks used to have all their work to do
Hauling them big yards of hers, heaving of her to
Down off Dago Ramirez, where the big winds blow,
Bringin' home the Rio Grande twenty years ago.