A Capital Ship

Lyrics:

A capital ship for an ocean trip Was the Walloping Window Blind, No gale that blew disturbed the crew Or troubled the captain's mind, And the man at the wheel was made to feel Contempt for the wildest blow-ow-ow, Though it often appeared when the gale had cleared He'd been in the bunk below.

Chorus-- Then blow ye winds heigh-ho a-roving I will go, I'll stay no more on England's shore So let the music play-ay-ay I'm off to the morning train I'll cross the raging main I'll cross the raging main I'm off to my love with a boxing glove Ten thousand miles away.

The bos'ns mate was very sedate, Yet fond of amusement too, He played Hopscotch on the starboard watch, While the Captain tickled the crew, And the gunner we had was apparently mad, For he sat on the after-ra-ai-ail And fired salutes with the captain's boots, In the teeth of the booming gale.

The captain sat on the commodore's hat And dined in a royal way, On toasted pigs and pickles and figs And gunnery bread each day, And the cook was Dutch and behaved as such, For the diet he gave the crew-ew-ew, Was a number of tons of hot-cross buns Mixed up with whiskey and glue.

All nautical pride we laid aside As we ran the vessel ashore, On the Gulliby isles where the Poo-Poo smiles, And the rugged vylings roar; On that desolate strand we sat in the sand, And shot at the whistling bee-ee-ees, And the cinnamon bats wore waterproof hats As they dipped in the shining seas.

On rugabug bark from morning till dark We dined till our hides had grown Uncommonly shrunk when a Chinese junk Came up from the Torriby zone. She was chubby and square but we didn't care As we merrily put to sea-e-e And we left the crew of the junk to chew On the bark of the Rugabug tree.

Far out on the brim of the deserts rim, On a throne of red hot rocks, The jim-jam sits in conniption fits, With moccasin snakes for locks In the month of July the country's so dry You will hear the travellers say When they wet it down with Sahara sand It evaporates away.

And now let every good undergrad, Pay heed to this mournful tale, Nor put to sea for a jamboree, With a corkscrew tip for a sail, And in after years if beset with cares, Let your heart for a moment be free, As you think of the days when you chanted these lays At good old U. N. B.

Note(s): The last two stanzas are omitted from the 1898, 1904, and 1912 editions of Carmina; they first appear in the 1921 edition. The last line of the fourth stanza reads "Served up with sugar and glue" in the 1898, 1904, and 1912 editions, and is changed to "mixed up with whiskey and glue" in the 1921 edition .

Source(s):

• Carmina Universitatis Novi Brunsvici. Fredericton, NB: University of New Brunswick, 1898; 1904; 1912; 1921.