O you may bless your happy luck that lies serene on shore
Far from the billows and the waves that round poor sailors roar !
O little we knew the hardships that we were obliged to stand,
For fourteen days and fourteen nights on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Our good ship never crossed before these stormy western waves,
And the raging sea came down on us and soon beat in her stays.
She being of green unseasoned wood and little could she stand
When the hurricane came down on us on the Banks of Newfoundland.
We were starved and frozen with the cold when we sailed from old Québec,
And every now and then we were obliged to walk the deck,
We being all hardy Irishmen and our vessel did well man
And the captain doubled each man’s grog on the Banks of Newfoundland.
We fasted for three days and nights till provisions did run out,
And on the morning of the fourth we cast a lot about.
The lot it fell on the captain’s son, and as you may understand,
We spared his life for another night on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Then on the morning of the fifth he got orders to prepare ,
We only gave him one short hour to offer up a prayer.
But providence proved kind to us and saved blood from every hand
When a full-rigged ship hauled into view on the Banks of Newfoundland.
When they took us from our wrecked ship, we were more like ghosts than men,
They fed us and they clothed us and they brought us back again.
But many of our brave Irish boys never saw their native land
And the captain lost both legs from frost on the Banks of Newfoundland.
The number of our passengers was four hundred thirty two,
There was none of them poor passengers could tell the tale but two.
Their parents may shed bitter tears that’s on their native strand,
While mountains of waves roll over their graves on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Far from the billows and the waves that round poor sailors roar !
O little we knew the hardships that we were obliged to stand,
For fourteen days and fourteen nights on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Our good ship never crossed before these stormy western waves,
And the raging sea came down on us and soon beat in her stays.
She being of green unseasoned wood and little could she stand
When the hurricane came down on us on the Banks of Newfoundland.
We were starved and frozen with the cold when we sailed from old Québec,
And every now and then we were obliged to walk the deck,
We being all hardy Irishmen and our vessel did well man
And the captain doubled each man’s grog on the Banks of Newfoundland.
We fasted for three days and nights till provisions did run out,
And on the morning of the fourth we cast a lot about.
The lot it fell on the captain’s son, and as you may understand,
We spared his life for another night on the Banks of Newfoundland.
Then on the morning of the fifth he got orders to prepare ,
We only gave him one short hour to offer up a prayer.
But providence proved kind to us and saved blood from every hand
When a full-rigged ship hauled into view on the Banks of Newfoundland.
When they took us from our wrecked ship, we were more like ghosts than men,
They fed us and they clothed us and they brought us back again.
But many of our brave Irish boys never saw their native land
And the captain lost both legs from frost on the Banks of Newfoundland.
The number of our passengers was four hundred thirty two,
There was none of them poor passengers could tell the tale but two.
Their parents may shed bitter tears that’s on their native strand,
While mountains of waves roll over their graves on the Banks of Newfoundland.
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