COLLECTED FROM GEORGE PATTISON

LEAVE HER JOLLIES, LEAVE HER

Capstan
George Pattison
Cape de Couedie Lighthouse
Kangaroo Island
South Australia
4 Dec 1924 (and 1941)
Clive Carey SS409

I dreamt I heard the old man say,
Leave he, Johnny, leave her
I dreamt I heard the old man say
It’s time for us to leave her.

We’ll heave her tight and we’ll heave her more

The voyage as long and the biscuits were hard

No more we’ll hear the old man growl

No more stop the bunt lines, no more grease the mast

No more barring down, no more scrubbing decks

No more take the first wheel, no more graveyard watch

Her bilge was foul and the passage was long

The grub was bad and the wages low

She was hard to steer, or wear or stay

She shipped it green both night and day

The chief mate’s a #@$% and the old man’s worse

And she shipped green till it made us curse

Now we’ll sing to you a farewell song

A damned old song and it won’t take long

You know we’ve heard the old man say

You can go on shore and take your pay

Before we go we’ll finish this song

The sails are furled, our voyage is done

We’ll heave her tight and heave her no more.

So we’ll heave her tight, we’ll settle our score.

This is a particularly long set of stanzas for this ‘signing off’ song. It is far longer than the Hugill version, and quite different. This song also collected in Australia from Captain Watson (Melbourne) in the 1950s and also by myself in 1973 (refer Jim Cargill oral history NLA). The song was traditionally sung on the last day of each voyage. It was also usual to include verses with their grievances – complaining about long hours, bad weather, food and even their fellow sailors.