Captain Ward

Come all ye jolly mariners
That love to tak' a dram
I'll tell ye o' a robber
That o'er the seas did come.

He wrote a letter to his king
On the eleventh o' July,
To see if he wad accept o' him
For his jovial company.

"Oh na, oh na," says the king,
"Such things they canna be,
They tell me ye are a robber,
A robber on the sea."

He has built a bonnie ship,
An' sent her to the sea,
Wi' fower an' twenty mariners
To guard his bonnie ship wi'.

They sailed up an' they sailed doon,
Sae stately, blythe, an' free,
Till they spied the king's high Reindeer
Like a leviathan on the sea.

"Why lie ye here, ye tinker,
Ye silly coordly thief?
Why lie ye here, ye tinker,
An' hold oor king in grief?"

They fought from one in the morning
Till it was six at night,
Until the king's high Reindeer
Was forced to tak' her flight.

"Gang hame, gang hame, ye tinkers.
Tell ye your king fae me
Though he reign king upon good dry land,
I will reign king upon the sea."

From Scottish Folksinger, Buchan and Hall
Child #287
RG