| Come all ye jolly mariners
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| That love to take a dram
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| Let’s go and seek for Captain Ward
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| Who over the seas has come
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| He is the greatest robber
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| As you shall quickly hear
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| There’s not been such a robber found
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| The last six hundred years
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| The King he got a letter
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| On the sixth of January
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| Saying — Let bold Captain Ward come in With all his company
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| If that you do let him in Until his tale is told
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| For ransom he will offer you
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| A twenty tons of gold
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| No, no — says the King
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| That can never be Captain Ward is a roober
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| A robber on the sea
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| Well, the King he has provided
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| A ship of noble fame
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| Called the Royal Rainbow
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| If you would know her name
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| She was as well provided for
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| As any ship could be Full five hundred men on board
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| To bear her company
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| When the Royal Rainbow came
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| Where Captain Ward did lie
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| Who is the master of this ship
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| The Rainbow’s crew did cry
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| The same am I — says Captain Ward
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| Why, ashamed I never will be If you were the King’s fair ship
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| You’re welcome unto me No, no — says the King
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| That can never be Captain Ward is a roober
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| A robber on the sea
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| For I never robbed an English ship
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| Just France’s ships or Spain’s
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| Likewise the blackguard Dutchman
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| That met upon the main
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| Had I got a letter through
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| This two weeks past, or three
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| I would’ve spared Lord Essex’s life
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| This pains me grievously
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| Six o' clock in the morning
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| They began to fight
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| So they did continue
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| Till nine o' clock at night
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| Fight on, fight on — says Captain Ward
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| So well it pleases me If you fight a month or more
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| Your master I will be Then the Royal Rainbow
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| She fired on in vain
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| Till full four hundred of her crew
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| Upon the decks lay slain
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| Go home, go home — says Captain Ward
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| And tell your King from me He may rule King o’er all the land
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| But Ward’s the King on sea
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| No, no — says the King
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| That can never be Captain Ward is a roober
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| A robber on the sea |