Oh I've been a sea-cook and I've been a clipperman.
I can dance, I can sing, I can walk the jib-boom.
I can handle a harpoon and cut a fine figure
Whenever I get in a boat standing room.
Chorus
Oh we'll rant and we'll roar like true born young whalermen,
We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below
Until we see bottom inside the two sinkers
Then straight up the channel into Huasco we'll go.
Chorus
I was in Talcahuano last year in a whaler
And I bought some gold watches from the girls in the bay,
I bought me a pipe and they called it a Meersham,
But it melted like butter on a hot summer's day.
Chorus
There's plenty of girls in old Talcahuano ,
There's plenty of damsels as fine as you wish;
There was one pretty maiden a-chewing tobacca,
Just like a young kitten a-chewing fresh fish.
Chorus
Farewell to you gals of old Talcahuano ,
Farewell to you maidens of far off Maui .
Oh, don't you be sorry, don't be melancholy,
I can't marry you all - or in chokey I'll be.
Chorus
[From Michael Bell on a Chelsea Christmas course.]
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