The Irish Rover

In the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and six

We set sail from the fair Quay of Cork.

We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks

For the grand city hall of New York.

She 'as an elegant craft, she was rigged fore-and-aft

And lo, how the wild winds drove her.

She had twenty-seven masts and withstood several blasts

And we called her the Irish Rover.

There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,

There was Hogan from County Tyrone.

Oh, there was Charlie McGurk who was scared stiff of work

And a chap from Westmeath called Malone.

There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule

And fighting Bill Tracey from Dover.

And your man Finn Megan from the banks of the Ban,

And was skipper of the Irish Rover.

We had one million bales of old billy goats' tails,

We had two million buckets of stones.

We had four million packets of bones.

We had five million hogs, we had six million dogs,

And seven million barrels of porter.

We had eight million bags of the best Sligo rags

In the hold of the Irish Rover.

We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out

And the ship lost her way in a fog.

And the whole of the crew was reduced unto two,

'Twas myself and the captain's old dog.

Then the ship struck a rock-O what a shock

And then the ship, she turned right over,

Turned nine times around, and the poor dog was drowned "“

I'm the last of the Irish Rover.