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Greenland Whale Fisheries 
Greenland Whale Fisheries 
SOURCE: Bob Pfeffer 
SOURCE'S SOURCE: Journal, Bengal, 1833 
TEXT: D A7 D 'Twas in 17 hundred and 84 D A7 And of March the seventeenth day 
D G That we weighed our anchors to our bow 
D A7 D And for Greenland bore away, brave boys 
D A7 D And for Greenland bore away. 
Bold Stevens was our captain's name And our ship the Lion so bold And we, poor souls, our anchors weighed To face the storms and cold, ... 
And when we arriv-ed in that cold countree Our goodly ship to moor We wished ourselves safe back again With those pretty girls on shore, ... 
Our boatswain in the maintop stood With a spyglass in his hand "A whale, a whale my lads," he cried And she spouts at every span, ... 
Our captain walked the quarter-deck And a fine little man was he "Overhaul, overhaul, let your davit tackles fall And launch your boats for sea," ... 
We struck that whale, and down she went 
But she gave a flourish with her tail And the boat capsized, and four gallant men were drown'd And we never caught that whale, ... 
Well, the losin' of those gallant men It grieves my heart full sore But the losin' of a hundred-barrel whale Well it grieves me ten times more, ... 
The winter star doth now appear So boys, we'll anchors weigh It's time to leave this cold countree And homeward bear away, ... 
Oh, Greenland is a dreadful place A land that's never green Where there's ice and there's snow and the whale-fishes blow And daylight's seldom seen, ... 
DT #321 Laws K21 versions of this recorded by
 Weavers and MacColl RPf