Shoals of Herring

With our nets and gear we're faring On the wild and wasteful ocean Its there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring

It was on a fair and a pleasant day Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger For to hunt the bonny shoals of herring

Now the work was hard and the hours were long And the treatment sure it took some bearing There was little kindness and the kicks were many As we hunted for the shoals of herring

Oh we left the home grounds in the month of June And for canny Shiels we soon were baring With a hundred cran of the silver darlings That we'd taken from the shoals of herring

Oh we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank I was a cook and Id a quarters sharing And I used to sleep standing on me feet And I'd dream about the shoals of herring

Now youre up on deck, youre a fisherman You can swear and show a manly bearing Take your turn on watch with the other fellows While you're following the shoals of herring

In the stormy seas and the living gales Just to earn the gear that I was wearing Sailed ten thousand miles, caught ten million fishes We was out there hunting shoals of herring

And its night and day we're faring Come winter wave or winter gale Sweating or cold, growing up, growing old and dying As we hunt the bonnie shoals of herring