Fifteen men on a dead man's chest—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike,
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And cookey's throat was marked belike
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing ken—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of the whole ship's list—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
The skipper lay with his nob in gore
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore—
And the scullion he was stabbed times four.
And there they lay, and the soggy skies
Dripped down in up-staring eyes—
In murk sunset and foul sunrise—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead,
Or a yawing hole in a battered head—
And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red—
And there they lay—aye, damn my eyes!—
Looking up at paradise—
All souls bound just contrariwise—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of 'em good and true—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold,
With a ton of plate in the middle hold,
And the cabins riot of stuff untold.
And they lay there that took the plum,
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb,
While we shared all by the rule of thumb—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
More was seen through a sternlight screen—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Chartings undoubt where a woman had been!
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
'Twas a flimsy shift on a bunker cot,
With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot,
Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
That dared the knife and took the blade!
By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight,
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight,
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight—
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well!
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell!
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!