Port Of Many Ships
It's a sunny pleasant anchorage is Kingdom Come
Where the crew is always layin' aft with double-tots o' rum
'N' there's dancin' and there's fiddlin' of ev'ry kind o' sort
It's a fine place for sailormen is that there port.
'N' I wish --
I wish as I was there.
The winds is never nothin' more than jest light airs
'N' no one gets belayin' pinned, 'n' no-one never swears
Yer free to loaf an' laze around, yer pipe atween yer lips
Lollin' on the fo'c's'le, sonny, lookin' at the ships.
'N' I wish --
I wish as I was there.
For ridin' in the anchorage the ships of all the world
Have got one anchor down 'n' all sails furled;
All the sunken hookers 'n' the crews as took 'n' died
They lays there merry, sonny, swingin' with the tide.
'N' I wish --
I wish as I was there.
Drowned old wooden hookers green wi' drippin' wrack
Ships as never fetched to port, as never came back
Swingin' to the blushin' tide, dippin' to the swell,
'N' the crews all singin', sonny, beatin' on the bell.
'N' I wish --
I wish as I was there.
This poem was first published in Speaker, August 1902 and then published in Masefield's SALT WATER BALLADS the same year. In 1919 it was set to music by Frederick Keel (1871-1954). The poem is currently being sung by Andy Kenna of the liverpool shanty duo Forebitter, as recorded on SALT WATER BALLADS, © 2002.
