Lime Juice Ship
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
If you want to join a merchant ship and sail the sea at large
You’ll not have any trouble if you have a good discharge
Signed by the Board of Trade with everything exact
And then you’ll get your months advance according to the Act.
(CHORUS sung after each verse)
So haul boys your weather mainbrace and ease away your lee
Hoist jib and topsails lads and let the ship go free
Shout boys shout I tell you it's a fact
There’s nothing done in Lime Juice ship contrary to the Act
Now when you join the ship me boys you’ll here your articles read
They’ll tell you of your pork and beef your butter and your bread
Your coffee, tea and sugar boys your peas and beans exact
Your lime juice and your vinegar according to the Act
Now it’s watch and watch the first day out according to the Act
And then me boys we all lay aft to get our lime juice whack
Break out a Handy-Billy and slap her on a tack
For we’re going to set the mainsail-o according to the Act
Now it’s up on deck me bully boys with many a curse we go
Wishing that eight bells be struck, that we may go below
Eight bells is struck, the watch is aft, the log is hove exact
Relieve the wheel go down below according to the Act
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
