The Captain's Apprentice

Harry Cox sings Come All You Men Throughout This Nation

Come all you men throughout this nation,

I will have you warning take by me.

Don’t be like me—ill-treat your servants—

When you sail on the raging seas.

This boy was bound to me apprentice.

This boy was bound to me, I say,

From St. George's workhouse I hailed him,

For this poor boy he was fatherless.

One day this boy he did offend me

And little to him I did say.

To the mizzen top I hauled him

And kept him there all that long day.

His hands, his feet, they were exhausted.

His arms, his legs, they were likewise.

With my marl spike I cruelly gagged him,

Because I could not bear to hear his cries.

With my long line I cruelly beated him.

So cruelly I can't deny.

Through my cruel and bad ill-treatment

The very next morning this poor boy died.

So now my men they do reject me.

To think that I had done so wrong!

In my cabin they closely confined me,

And brought me to London in a iron strong.

So now my trial do come over,

And here lay I condemned to die.

If I had a been my men had been ruled,

I might have save a poor boy's life and mine.

A.L. Lloyd sings The Cruel Ship's Captain

A boy to me was bound apprentice

Because his parents they were poor.

So I took him from St James' Workhouse

All for to sail on the Greenland shore.

One day this poor boy he did annoy me.

Nothing to him then did I say,

But I rushed him to my frozen yard-arm

And I kept him there till the very next day.

When his eyes and his teeth did hang towards me,

With his hands and his feet bowed down likewise,

And with a bloody iron bar I killed him

Because I wouldn't hear his cries.

Danny Spooner sings The Captain's Apprentice

A cabin boy to me was bound in apprentice

Because his parents were so poor.

So I took him from St James' Workhouse

All for to sail on the foreign shore.

One day this young boy he did offend me.

Nothing then to him did I say,

But I sent him to my frozen yard arm

And I kept him there till the very next day.

When his hands and his feet did hang towards me,

And his arms and his legs hung down likewise,

With a tarry gasket then I killed him

Because I would not heed his cries.

And then my crew did turn against me

Because I had done such wrong,

And down in my own cabin close-confined me,

All bound down in irons strong.

And now to Newgate jail they've brought me

And I am all condemned to die.

If I had by my own men been ruled,

I might have saved that poor boys life and mine.

So all you sea captains that goes a-sailing,

Take a warning but what has come to me;

And don't mistreat your poor apprentice boys,

Or else 'tis hanged you shall be.