William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
A Yankee Ship and a Yankee CrewJ. S. Jones
A Y
Tally hi ho, you know;
O’er the bright blue waves like a sea-bird flew;
Sing hey aloft and alow.
Her wings are spread to the fairy breeze,
The sparkling spray is thrown from her prow;
Her flag is the proudest that floats on the seas,
Her homeward way she’s steering now.
A Yankee ship and a Yankee crew,
Tally hi ho, you know;
O’er the bright blue waves like a sea-bird flew;
Sing hey aloft and alow.
Tally hi ho, you know;
With hearts on board both gallant and true,
The same aloft and alow,
The blacken’d sky and the whistling wind,
Foretell the quick approach of the gale;
A home and its joys flit o’er each mind
Husbands! lovers! “on deck there,” a sail.
A Yankee ship and a Yankee crew,
Tally hi ho, you know:
Distress is the word,—God speed them through;
Bear a hand, aloft and alow.
Tally hi ho, you know;
The boats all clear, the wreck we now view,
“All hands” aloft and alow.
A ship is his throne, the sea his world,
He ne’er sheers from a shipmate distressed;
All’s well—the reef’d sails again are unfurl’d,
O’er the swell he is cradled to rest.
A Yankee ship and a Yankee crew,
Tally hi ho, you know;
Storm past, drink to “wives and sweethearts” too,
All hands! aloft and alow.
Tally hi ho, you know,
Freedom defends, and the land where it grew—
We’re free—aloft and alow.
Bearing down is a foe in regal pride,
Defiance floating at each mast head;
One’s a wreck—and she bears that floats alongside
The stars and stripes, to victory wed.
For a Yankee ship and a Yankee crew,
Tally hi ho, you know,
Ne’er strikes to a foe while the sky is blue,
Or a tar’s aloft or alow.