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lebedame-wegelagerin · 1 year

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The Tryphina's Extra Hand C. Fox Smith

In the clipper ship Tryphina Swingin' nor'ard from the line With the trade wind blowin' steady And her flyin' kites ashine Five and sixty days from Angier With her freight of Foochow teas There a sailor man lay dyin' And the words he spoke were these: Many a year I've knowed this packet And I've got to like her well And I've not much hope of heaven And I've not much use for hell But if so be as they'll let me By the great hookblock I swear When the old Tryphina wants me Dead as livin' I'll be there There'll be one more at the haliards There'll be one more on the yard Fistin' down them thundering courses When they're frosted good and hard One more tallyin' on the forebrace When the waist's neck deep in foam One more hand to sweat the tops'l's up And sheet t'ga'ns'l's home So just off the Western islands When he smell't the land he died And they laid a back the main y'rd And they dropped him overside Then they squared away for England Pulley haulin' with a will But for all they thought they'd left him He sailed aboard her still And the chaps as was his shipmates Went the way as all chaps go and the folks as was her owners Sold the old ship long ago But whoever owned or sold her And whoever went or came The Tryphina's extra hand He sailed aboard her just the same And he never signed no articles He never drawed no pay He never scoffed no vittles But by night as well as day Though you'd never know his comin' Nor you'd never see him go He'd be always somewheres handy When it's comin' on a blow And he'd stand by wheel and lookout And you'd kind of feel him near Kind of see him and not see him Kind of hear him and not hear And the funny thing about it Was you somehow couldn't swear Though you knew it sure as shootin' When the extra hand was there And in port when all the chaps had gone Ashore to take their ease And left the ship as lonely And as quiet as you please Not a blessed soul aboard her But the galley cat and you Then you'd hear a sort of somethin' More than once I've heard it too Like a feller up aloft there Putterin around amongst the gear Seizing there another rat line Putting on a mousing here And rum-tumming old tunes over Such as shell backs used to know In the good old China tea trade Many, many's the year ago

#Folk Music #Alex Sturbaum #The Tryphina's Extra Hand #C. Fox Smith #Ships #Music #Ghost #Poetry

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