The Cruel Ship's Captain A boy to me was bound apprenticed Because his parents they were poor. So I took him from St. James' workhouse All for to sail on the Greenland shore. One day this poor boy he did annoy me Nothing to him then did I say But I rushed him to my frozen yardarm And I kept him there 'til the very next day. When his eyes and his teeth did hang toward me With his hands and his feet bowed down likewise And with a tarry gasket there I killed him Because I wouldn't hear his cries. Now all you sea captains that go out a-navyin' Take a warning example by me And don't misuse your young apprentice boys Or else its hanged you'll surely be. ------------ Rec. by A.L.Lloyd, Riverside RLP 12-635 "Thar She Blows" w/Ewan McColl (per liner notes, early 19th C. from King's Lynn, England broadsheet ballad) GF Apr98
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