Our Ship She Lies in Harbour

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Lesley Nelson
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This was printed under the title Our Ship She Lays in Harbour on a broadside by Such and by Catnach (who printed in London between 1813-1838). Copies of those broadsides are at the Bodleian Library. Some sources consider this song a variant of The Lowlands of Holland.

This was collected in Surrey in 1896.

'Our ship she lies in harbour,
Just ready to set sail,
May heaven be your guardian, love,
Till I return from sea!'

Said the father to the daughter,
'What makes you so lament?
Is there no man in all the world
Could give your heart content?'

Said the daughter to the father,
'I'll tell [you] the reason why:
You have sent away that sailor-lad
That could me satisfy.'

If thats your inclination;
The father did reply,
'I wish he may continue there,
And on the seas may die!'

She, like an angel weeping,
On the rocks sighed every day,
Awaiting for her own true love
Returning home from sea.

'Oh, yonder sits my angel!
She's waiting there for me,
To-morrow to the church we'll go,
And married we will be.'

When they had been to church,
And were returning back again,
She espied her honoured father
And several gentlemen.

Said the father to the daughter,
'Five hundred pounds I'll give,
If you'll forsake that sailor-lad
And come with me to live.'

'It's not your gold that glittered,
Nor yet your silver that shined;
For I'm married to the man I love
And I'm happy in my mind!'
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From English Traditional Songs and Carols
See Bibliography for full information.