Lyrics Greenland Fishery - Bonny Light Horseman, Eric D. Johnson, Anaïs Mitchell

Greenland Fishery

No more, no more can we stay on shore
Gonna work for the company
Where there’s ice and there’s snow and the whale-fishes play
And the Greenland Fishery, boys
The Greenland Fishery
The lookout climbed the top mast high
With a spyglass in his hand
«There's a whale, there’s a whale, there’s a whale-fish,» he cried
«And she blows at every span, boys
She blows at every span»
And the captain stood on the quarterdeck
And the ice was in his eye
«Overhaul, overhaul, let your davit tackle fall
Let your harpoon fly, boys
Let your harpoon fly»
The harpoon struck and the line played out
But the fish gave a flash with the tail
And the boats capsized and we lost a dozen men
And a hundred barrels of oil, boys
A hundred barrels of oil
With the losing of a dozen brave men
It grieved the company sore
But the losing of all those dollars and cents
Grieve them ten times more, boys
Grieve them ten times more