Oh, down by Millwall Basin as I went the other day,
I met a skipper that I knew, and to him I did say:
“Now what’s the cargo, Captain, that brings you up this way?”
Oh, I’ve been up and down (said he) and round about also …
From Sydney to the Skagerack, and Kiel to Callao …
With a leaking steam-pipe all the way to Cali-forn-i-o …
“With pots and pans and ivory fans and every kind of thing,
Rails and nails and cotton bales, and sewer pipes and string …
But now I’m through with cargoes, and I’m here to serve the King!
“And if it’s sweeping mines (to which my fancy somewhat leans)
Or hanging out with booby-traps for the skulking submarines,
I’m here to do my blooming best and give the beggars beans!
“A rough job and a tough job is the best job for me,
And what or where I don’t much care, I’ll take what it may be,
For a tight place is the right place when it’s foul weather at sea!”
There’s not a port he does n’t know from Melbourne to New York;
He’s as hard as a lump of harness beef, and as salt as pickled pork …
And he’ll stand by a wreck in a murdering gale and count it part of his work!
