Sweethearts and Wives

The very first voyage as ever I made

I went to sea in the East Coast trade

And I courted a gal at Seaton Sluice

If her name warn't Lizzie it must ha' been Luce

So I did!

And then I sailed in a Colonies clipper

With a rare old rip of a racing skipper,

And there warn't no sense nor there warn't no use

A-courtin' a gal at Seaton Sluice;

So I looked for another down Melbourne way

If her name warn't Kitty, it must ha' been May

So I did!

Oh next I sailed in a pearlin' brig

To the South Sea Isles both little and big,

Where it warn't no use, say what you may,

A-courtin' a gal down Melbourne way.

So I didn't worry with her no longer

But I soon picked up with a gal in Tonger,

An island gal as brown as a berry

Don't know her name, but I called her "Cherry", "Cherry"

So I did!

But last I signed in a Liverpool liner,

Go where you will and you won't find a finer!

And it's time, thinks I, to be settlin' down,

So I married a widder in Monkey Town,

With a bit in the bank and a "corner off"

And when I'm ashore now I lives like a toff.

And as for the gal at Seaton Sluice

I 'ope she ain't waitin', for that ain't no use,

And as for the ones at Montreal and Tonger

and Taltal and Melbourne and all,

And all the whole boilin' from France to Fiji,

I 'ope they're all married and 'appy like me.

So I do!