1.
Ye gentlemen of England,
Who live home at your ease,
It’s little do you think of
The dangers of the seas.
When we receive our orders,
We are obliged to go
On the main to proud Spain,
Where the stormy winds do blow.
2.
Was on the fourth of August,
From Spithead we set sail
With Rameley and Company
Blest with a pleasant gale.
We sailed along together
In the Bay of Biscay, oh,
Where a dreadful storm it did arise,
And the stormy wind did blow.
3.
The Rameley, she left us,
She could no longer stay,
And by distress of weather
From us she bore away.
When she arrived at Gibraltar,
They told the people so
How they thought we were all lost
At the Bay of Biscay, oh.
4.
Kind heaven did protect her;
It was not quite so bad;
First we lost our foremast,
And then we lost our flag,
And then we lost our mainmast;
One of our guns also,
And the men, we lost ten,
On the Bay of Biscay, oh.
5.
When the mainmast started,
It gave a dreadful stroke;
In our starboard quarter
A large hole did it broke.
Then the seas came battering in;
Our guns soon overflow,
So boldly she plowed it
On the Bay of Biscay, oh.
6.
The night being dark and dreary
At twelve o’clock that night;
Our captain in the forecastle,
He was killed then outright.
The ring upon his finger
In pieces burst in two;
There he laid until next day,
When we overboard him threw.
7.
The storm it being abated,
We rigged up jury mast,
And steered it for Gibraltar,
Where we arrived at last.
They said it was a dismal sight
As ever they did know;
We forced to drink wine,
And drownèd all our woe.