High Barbaree- (MA) 1924 Taber; Colcord
High Barbaree- Colford, 1924, p. 78, Also in Colford 1938 p. 153. Collected by George H. Taber in New Bedford, Mass., except for the fourth and sixth verses supplied by Colcord from other sources.
1. There was two lofty ships, from old England they set sail,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we!
The one she was the Princess and the other Prince of Wales,
Cruising down along the shores of High Barbaree!
2. "Lay aloft, lay aloft," our jolly skipper cried,
"Look ahead, look astern, look a-weather and a-stern.
3. "There's nothing out ahead, sir, there's nothing out a-stern,
There's a rock upon our quarter and a ship upon our lee
4. "Now overhaul and speak her," our jolly skipper cried,
'"Are you an India merchantman or Yankee privateer?"
5. "l am no India merchantman or Yankee privateer,
But I am a salt-sea pirate and I'm sailing for my fee.
6. Twas broadside to broadside those gallant ships did lay,
Until the Prince of Walles shot the pirate's mast away.
7. For quarter, for quarter the pirates they did cry,
But the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea.