Down off Cape Horn where the wild winds blow
Yankee Johnny Stormalong
Way down south way off Cape Horn
Aye aye Mister Stormalong.

Stormy’s gone that good old man,
Way high Stormalong
Way down south way off Cape Horn
Aye aye Mister Stormalong.

Similarly:

Oh we’ll dig his grave with a silver spade
Of the finest silk his shroud will be made

Oh he’s moored at last and he’s furled his sails
He’s free from wrecks and far from gales

Oh a good old skipper to his crew
An able sailor brave and true

Oh we’ll lower him down with a golden chain
Our eyes will dim but not with rain

Oh Stormy’s heard that bugle call
So sing this dirge now one and all.

Now when they get their anchor up and they get started from up around Boston, they go down and they cross the Equator and then they get down into the stormy zone of the Horn – Cape Horn – Cape Stiff they often called it – great huge greybacks, a terrific place for weather. And they drove those ships all the way. Donald McKay’s first ship, the Flying Cloud , that was built especially for the California gold rush, she made the trip in eighty-nine days and the fastest previous passage to the Golden Gate was a hundred and twenty days – thirty-one days cut off any previous trip. And, of course, these ships were just wracked to pieces with the driving pressure of the sails. They were all wooden ships – wooden ships and iron men. And so they had pumps, great big pumps with wheels and a handle, and they used to have to pump and pump and pump on these to keep the ship dry. And this was a pumping shanty that I don’t know whether I’ve ever heard anywhere, but it was one of my favourites and also came from Captain Robarts:

Collated text: verses 1, 2, 3 and 6 Vancouver 1959; verses 4, 5 Vancouver n.d.; verse 7 N. Vancouver n.d.