The Antarctic Fleet

(Harry Robertson)

 

I went down south a-whaling, down to the ice and snow,

And four-and-twenty pounds a month, was all I had to show,

For being on a little ship like a sardine in a can,

And eating salty pork and beef, that was stewed up in a pan.

 

Heigh-ho! The whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,

I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in my feet.

 

South Georgia is an island, it is a Whaling Base,

And only men in search of whales, would go to such a place,

There is no entertainment there, unless you make home brew,

Then we would have some singing and, we’d have some fighting too.

 

Heigh-ho! The whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,

I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in my feet.

 

We sailed down to the Weddell Sea, where the big Blues can be found,

We sailed between the icebergs and, we chased them round and round,

But when they couldn’t run no more, and fought to draw their breath,

Our gunner shot harpoons in them, ’til they floated still in death.

 

Heigh-ho! The whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,

I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in my feet.

 

For months we sailed the ocean, and we wearied of the toil,

Of slaughter and of killing just to get that stinking oil,

But when the storm was closing in and the snow was falling down,

I often wished that I was back, in dear old Hastings town.

 

Heigh-ho! The whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,

I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in my feet.

 

It’s twenty years since I’ve been there, and I won’t go back again,

I didn’t like the climate but, I liked the whaling men,

And even in the summer when I walk along the street,

I’ve still got a drip upon me nose, and I’ve still got frozen feet.

 

Heigh-ho! The whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,

I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in my feet.