Captain Ward- Kerns (MI) pre1892 Blount JOAFL 1912
[From: Five Old-Country Ballads in the The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 25, No. 96 (Apr. - Jun., 1912), pp. 171-178. This version is unusual in three respects. First, is is based on the Coles broadside Child gave as his sole example of this ballad titled, "The Famous Sea-Fight Between Captain Ward and the Rainbow." Most US versions are based on the Forget-Me Not Songster text. Secondly, the Queen (Elizabeth?) sends the Rainbow to fight Ward and bring him to justice, it's not the king.
Compare to W. A. Barrett's English Folk-songs, p. 63. The editor says "the words were still printed as a sheet, "but does not specify the date. The feature of the text is the change of "king" to "queen":
"Go home, go home," says saucy Ward, "and tell your Queen from me,
If she rules Queen of England, I'll rule King at sea." [see: Barry]
The third unusual aspect of this ballad is the ending. Barry says, "This text shows that Elizabeth was the queen meant, for in the last lines, she says:
"There was Captain Drake and Witherington and bold Lord Willoughby,
If e'er a one of them was alive, he'd have brought proud Ward to me."
and adds: Witherington is an intrusion from "Chevy Chase." Barry also says that the text indicates that the queen is Elizabeth. This ballad could be quite ancient. According to the Kerns family, the date could be c.1762 (when they came to the US from North of England) and the place, New Jersey.
R. Matteson 2014]
5. CAPTAIN WARD (Child, 287)
The following version of "Captain Ward" was contributed by Dr. Alma Blount, of the State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich., March 14, 1912, as written down by Mr. Kerns, one of her students. It has been traditional in his family for many years. About twenty years ago one of them made a written copy. The Kerns family came from the North of England to New Jersey about a hundred and fifty years ago, and it is thought they brought the ballad with them (in memory, not in print).
1. Strike up, ye lusty gallants, that love the sound of drum!
I have discovered a rover, that on the sea doth run;
His name it is bold Captain Ward, as plain it doth appear;
There hasn't been such a rover found out this hundred year.
2. He sent a letter unto our queen the ninth of February,
Desiring that he might come in, with his company so merry;
Desiring that he might come in, and when his tale was told,
For his ransom he would give fully thirty tons of gold.
3. "Oh, no! oh, no!" then said our queen. "This thing it may not be,
That I should reign upon the land and not upon the sea.
He hath deceived the Queen of France, likewise the Queen of Spain,
And how should he prove true to me when he hath deceived twain?"
4. Our queen then fitted out a ship, a gallant ship of fame,
And she was called the Rainbow, if you would know her name.
So well she was provided for, and fitted for the sea,
With fifty good brass pieces to bear her companie.
5. It was four o'clock in the morning when they began to fight,
And cannons they kept roaring till eight o'clock at night.
"Shoot on! shoot on!" says Captain Ward, "your sport well pleaseth me;
And if you fight a month or more, your master I will be!"
6. And now the gallant Rainbow is returning home again,
Saying, "Yonder sails proud Captain Ward, and there he may remain."
[Several stanzas missing]
7. "Alack! alas!" then said our queen, "for I've lost jewels three:
There was Captain Drake and Witherington and bold Lord Willoughby.
If e'er a one of them was alive, he'd have brought proud Ward to me."