Nantucket Sleigh Ride

Graham Leathers

Nantucket Sleighride

Copyright ©1992 Graham Leathers - All Rights reserved
Used by permission

The ship cast off on a maritime day
The sails took a wind that pulled her away
Back on the shore the people would say how brave.
The men were strong and their heads were clear
In every man's eye there's at least one tear
Listen to the men and hope to hear them say:

CHORUS
Haul on the rope boys, thar she blows
Down to the deck the whaler goes
See his body straining as he rows
Follow the whale because he knows
Forty whales makes his trip worthwhile
For three years, they did roam
A hundred men went, forty-one came home.

For two long years they were out at sea
But still no whales had been caught for the fee
Odf twenty cents a day and the men were barely fed.
Then one day a pod came in sight
They looked like blue but they could have been right
The man yelled out with sheer delight he said:

CHORUS

The boats were dwarfed by their mighty prey
The men rowed hard so that they could stay
Close to the whale 'til they had it at bay for now.
The tail came down on the little boat's crew
Leaving nothing more than a splinter or two
Nothing any other of the men could do but shout:

Chorus

The ship came home with its cargo of oil
And tired out men that had seen the toil
And galley crews watching all the meat spoil below
Now a fleet goes to haul in whales
No more row boats and no more sails
Just a cannon and a hapoon and a rope that trails to go...

CHORUS 2
Into the whale and bomb explodes
No one ever has to yell thar she blows
An unborn calf was the one he chose and
In through the factory ship it goes
Nothing can make this trip worthwhile
A million years the whales did roam
Once there were thousands
Now none come home.