Читать книгу Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry - Alfred M. Williams - Страница 9

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Come, all ye bold sailors,

Who sail 'round Cape Horn,

Come, all the bold whalers,

Who cruise 'round for sperm.

The Captain has told us,

And I hope't will prove true

That there's plenty of sperm whales

Off the coast of Peru.

The first whale we saw

Near the close of the day.

Our Captain came on deck,

And thus he did say:

"Now all my bold sailors,

Pray be of good glee,

For we 'll see him in the morning,

P'raps mider our lee."

It was early next morning,

Just as the sun rose,

The man at the mast-head

Called out, "There she blows!"

"Whereaway?" cried our Captain,

As he sprang up aloft.

"Three points on our lee bow,

And scarce two miles off."

"Now trace up your yards, boys,

We 'll fasten anear.

Get your lines in your boats,

See your box lines all clear;

Haul back the main yard, boys,

Stand by, each boat's crew,

Lower away, lower away,

My brave fellows, do."

"Now, bend to your oars, boys,

Just make the boat fly,

But whatever you do, boys,

Keep clear from his eye."

The first mate soon struck,

And the whale he went down,

While the old man pulled up,

And stood by to bend on.

But the whale soon arose;

To the windward he lay.

We hauled up 'longside,

And he showed us fair play.

We caused him to vomit,

Thick blood for to spout,

And in less than ten minutes

We rolled him "fin out."

We towed him alongside

With many a shout,

That day cut him in,

And began to boil out.

Oh, now he's all boiled out

And stowed down below,

We 're waiting to hear 'em,

Sing out, "There she blows!"

It is extremely doubtful if the Dago sailors and foreign 'longshoremen, who now make such a large portion of the crews of the Arctic steam whalers, are capable of even such rude verse as this, and the poetry of the whale fishery is now as extinct as the glory of Nantucket and the sea flavor of New Bedford. Like some greater things it may be regretted, but cannot be recovered.