The Waterwitch

Traditional



A neat little packet from Hobart set sail
For to cruise 'round the westward for monster sperm whales;
Cruise in the westward, where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Waterwitch, to the west'd we go.

CHORUS:
Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away to the west'd in the Waterwitch we go.


Oh it's early one morning just as the sun rose;
A man from the masthead cries out: 'There she blows!'
'We're away!' cried the skipper, and springing aloft;
'Three points on the lee bow and scarce three miles off.


'Get your lines in your boats, my boys, see your box-line all clear,
And lower me down, my bully-boys, and after him we'll steer.
Now the ship, she gets full, my boys; to Hobart we steer,
Where there's plenty of pretty girls and plenty good beer.


'We'll spend our money freely with the pretty girls on shore,
And when it's all gone we'll go whaling for more.'
Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Waterwitch, to the west'd we go.


The Waterwitch was a whaling ship based in Hobart in the 1860s. This song was published in collections in the mid-twentieth century. I've used a tune based on the Wongawilli version.