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The Greenland Whale 
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The Greenland Whale 
It was seventeen hundred and eighty-four On March the seventeenth day We weighed our anchor to our bow And for Greenland bore away brave boys And for Greenland bore away 
Bold Stevens was our captain's name Our ship called the Lion so bold And our poor souls our anchor away To face the storms and cold brave boys To face the storms and cold 
Oh when we arrived in that cold country Our goodly ship to moor We wished ourselves safe back again With those pretty girls on shore brave boys With those pretty girls on shore 
Our boatswain to the main top stand With a spyglass in his hand A whale a whale my lads he cries And she spouts at every span brave boys And she spouts at every span 
The captain walked the quarter-deck And a jolly little fellow was he Overhaul overhaul your davit tackle fall And we'll launch our boats all three brave boys And we'll launch our boats all three 
There was harpineery and picaneery And boat steerery also And twelve jolly tars to tug at the oars And a-whaling we all go brave boys 
And a-whaling we all go 
We struck that whale and down she went By the flourish of her tail By chance we lost a man overboard And we did not get that whale brave boys And we did not get that whale 
When this news to our captain came It grieved his heart full sore And for the loss of a 'prentice boy It was half mast colors all brave boys It was half mast colors all 
It's now cold months is a-coming on No longer can we stay here For the winds do blow and the whales do go And the daylight seldom does appear brave boys And the daylight seldom does appear 
DT #321 Laws K21 From Songs the Whalemen Sang, Huntington collected from the journal of the Bengal, 1833, kept by
 William Silver of Salem