Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
The Sandshark 
The Sandshark 
The sandshark feeds on the sailor bold Till his throbbing heart grows poor and old Or swallows him down while he's tender and young And laps his blood with a greedy tongue 
Not where the upland fountains play Not where the timid minnows stay But close by the surf of the mighty deep In the gulf of hell does the sandshark sweep 
By the devil's reef at noon and night In the alley dark and the bar room bright Quick as the victim comes to the lair He is clutched by the gory monster there 
What cares he for the sailor's cries For the father's groans or the mother's sighs He has sought that sailor from pole to pole And the sandshark eats him body and soul 
In the sandshark's haunts there is music heard And the sparkling waves of the bowl are stirred And the siren's lust and the gambler's spell Are thick by the sandshark's road to hell 
And seldom shall ever the victim pass From the harlot's grip and the demon glass For at home and abroad through every flood The sandshark waits for the sailor's blood 
Note: this is a strange song indeed, and I have not yet found it in print. Ken Goldstein thinks that it may be an English music hall song. Actually the sandshark is a harmless beast, but the dangers on shore that faced the poor sailor from shark-like humans were very real, GH I've heard it sung as "The Land-Shark", RG From Songs the Whalemen Sang, Huntington No tune supplied; setting by RG