The Glasgow
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com - Sunk and lost in the sea in 1837
All you who love your native land And mean to emigrate
A while draw near and you shall hear
What happened of late
To tell the hardships I went through Some pages it would fill
When I was forced to leave my home That place called Sweet Cootehill
John Williams is my name This truth I'll ne'er deny
My friends they banished me away I'll tell you the reason why
Because I would not break the vows I made unto my dear
They tore me from the arms Of my charming Sally Greer
Straight away to Liverpool My friends did me convey
And in the Glasgow to New York My passage they did pay
Along with Captain Robinson And sixteen of a crew
We set out for America Our fortune to pursue
'Twas on the eight of February Our gallant ship set sail
Bound for the city of New York With a sweet and pleasant gale
On the midnight of the seventh day Before our captain went to rest
He called unto his chief-mate And made him this behest
Take you charge of the vessel And of yon rocks keep clear
And beat about the Irish coast Till daylight doth appear
Our chief-mate took the orders But he did not them obey
And by neglect he let the ship Go quite out of her way
Early the following morning About half-past four o'clock
Our gallant ship with all her might Came on a sunken rock
These rocks are called The Barrels They're hidden from human sight
They lie abreast of Carnsore Head And west of Tuskar Light
Men, women and children Were filled with great surprise
A heart like flint it would relent To hear their dismal cries
We hoist a light from our mast-head Before it was daylight
And to our joy and great surprise A schooner hove in sight
Captain Walsh gave orders Unto his seamen brave
The women and the children To strive first for to save
With that the Glasgow gave a lurch And none could her prevent
And five-and-twenty fine young men Down to the bottom went
Long life to Captain Walsh And to his seamen brave
But for his assistance We'd have met a watery grave
He landed us in Wexford town Where we were treated kind
In time of need indeed 'twas there Some warm friends we did find
In these four months four vessels Wrecked upon the watery main
The Glasgow and the Mexico The Bristol and the Jane
And nearly a thousand passengers
Lie asleep in watery graves
Men who thought to settle in land That never sheltered slaves
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.
