The Bold Princess Royal
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
On the fourteenth of February we sailed from the land
In the bold Princess Royal bound for Newfoundland
We had forty bright seamen our ship’s company
So boldly from the Eastward to the Westward bore we
We had not been sailing scarce days two or three
When a man from our topmast a sail he did see
Come bearing down on us to see where we bore
And under her mizzen black colors she bore.
Great God cried our captain what shall we do now
Here comes a bold pirate to rob us I know
Oh no cried our chief mate that shall not be so
We will shake out our reef me boys and away from him we’ll go
It was the next morning at the dawning of the day
This lofty large pirate shot under our lee
Whence came you cried the pirate we answered him so
We are out of fair London bound for Callao
Then back your main topsails and heave your ship to
For I have a letter to send down to you
If I back may topsail and heave my ship to
It will be for some pilot and not alongside you
He chased us to the Eastward all that livelong day
He chased us to the Westward but he couldn't make no way
He fired some shots after us but none did prevail
And the bold Princess Royal soon showed him her tail
Oh now cried our captain the pirate is gone
Go down for your grog boys go down every one
Go down for your grog boys and be of good cheer
For while we’ve got sea room bold lads never fear
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
