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CAPTAIN GLENN / WILLIAM GLEN
Traditional
See also Digitrad
Oh there was a ship and a ship of fame
Launched off the stocks bound to sail the mane
With a hundred and fifty brisk young men
Well picked and chosen every one
And William Glenn was the captain's name
He was a fine and a tall young man
As bold a sailor as went to sea
And we were bound for High Barbary.
On the first of April then we set sail
Blessed with a fine and prosperous gale
And we were bound for New Barbary
With all of our whole ship's company
And we hadn't been sailing a league or two
'Till all of our whole ship's jovial crew
They all fell sick but sixty three
As we were sailing to New Barbary
And one night the captain then he did dream
There came a voice which said to him
Prepare yourself and your company
For tomorrow night you must lie with me
This woke the captain in a terrible fright
It being the third watch of the night
And aloud to the bosun then he did call
And to him told his secrets all
When I in England I did remain
The holy sabbath I did profane
That I slew in Staffordshire
All for the love of his lady fair
And it's of the ghost that I am afraid
Has in me such terror bred
So keep the secret within your breast
And pray to the lord that he'll give you rest
They hadn't been a sailing a league but three
Till raging grew the roaring sea
There rose a tempest all in the skies
Which did our hearts fill with such surprise
And the main mast sprung at the break of day
Which made our rigging all to give way
And in our seaman sore afright
The terrors of that fatal night
And the bosun then he did declare
That the captain he was a murderer
Which so enraged the whole ship's crew
That overboard our captain threw
Our treacherous captain he being gone
Immediately there was a calm
The winds abated and so did the sea
And we went sailing to New Barbary
On Unearthged in the seventh verse Nic substitutes
When I in England I did remain
The holy sabbath I did profane
for the more usual
Bosun, said he, it grieves me heart
To think I've acted a villain's part

and he declines to sing these two verses which I think he does sing on From the Devil a Stranger

When we came to the Spanish shore
Our good little ship for to repair
The people there were amazed to see
Our dismal case and such misery

Now seaman all wherever you be
I pray you take a warning from me
As you love your life
Won't you have a care
And never go sailing with a murderer.