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Oh, it was a fine and a pleasant day.
G7
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
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As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
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For to go and hunt the shoals of herring.

Oh, 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 fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank.
I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing
And I used to sleep standing on my feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring.

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

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

In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring.
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herring.

Oh, I earned my keep and I paid my way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing,
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes.
We were sailing after shoals of herring.