[Page 220]
THE FLYING CLOUD
1
(1)
My
name it is Edward Anderson,
As you may
understand,
I belong to the city of Waterford,
In Erin's lovely land,
(2)
When I was young and in my prime,
And
health did on me smile,
My parents doted on me,
I, being their only child,
(3)
My
father reared me tenderly,
In the fear of God
likewise,
But little he thought I’d die in scorn
On Cuba'ssunny isles,
(4)
My father bound me to a trade,
In Waterford'sfair town,
He bound me to a
cooper there,
Whose name was William
Brown.
(5)
I served my master
faithfully
For eighteen months or more,
When I shipped on board the "Ocean Queen"
For Valparaiso'sshore.
(6)
It happened at Valparaiso's,
I fell in with Captain
Moore.
He commanded the clipper "Flying Cloud"
Sailing out ofBaltimore.
(7)
He hired me to
sail with him,
A slaving voyage to go
To the
burning shores of Africa,
Where the
sugar cane doth grow.
(8)
The "Flying Cloud" was a clipper barque,
Five hundred tons or more.
She could easily sail round any ship
Sailing out of Baltimore.
(9)
I’ve often seen that
goodly ship,
With the wind abaft her beam,
With her royal and studdin’ set aloft,
Take sixteen from the
reel.
(10)
Her sails were white as any
snow,
On them there was no speck.
She had
seventy-five brass mounted guns,
She carried on her
deck.
(11)
Her magazine and iron chests
Were safely stored below.
She had a "Long
Tom”
2 between her spars
3,
On a swivel it did
go.
(12)
We soon tossed o'er the raging sea
And reached the Afric
shore,
Where five hundred of these poor souls,
From their native homes we bore,
(13)
We dragged them down unto the deck
And stored them
down below,
And eighteen inches to a man
Was all we had to stow.
(14)
We weighed
our anchor and put to sea,
Our cargo it being slaves.
It had been far better for those poor souls,
Had they
been in their graves.
(15)
For plague and fever did come on
board
And took half of them away.
We dragged
their bodies to the deck
And threw them in the
sea.
(16)
Our money it then being
spent,
We went aboard again.
Our captain
called us to the deck
And said to us his men:
(17)
"There’s gold in plenty to be had
Down on the Spanish main,
If you’ll
agree my jovial crew,
I’ll tell you how it’s
gained.
(18)
"There's gold and silver to be had
If you with me remain.
We’ll hist the lofty
pirate flag
And scour the Spanish
Main."
(19)
We all agreed but
five bold youths
Who ordered us them to land,
Two of them were Boston caps,
Two more from Newfoundland.
(20)
The other was an Irish lad
A native of
Stramore.
I wish to God I’d joined
their lot
Two more from Newfoundland.
(21)
We burned and
plundered many's a ship
Down on the Spanish
Main,
Left many a widow and orphan child,
In sorrow to complain.
(22)
We
caused their crews to walk the plank,
Gave them a watery
grave,
And all the words our captain spoke,
Were "Dead men tell no tales."
(23)
We had
been chased by man of wars,
Frigates and liners too,
But to overtake our goodly ship,
'Twas what they ne'er
could do.
(24)
They always fell astern of
us,
When the cannon roared so loud,
And do
their best, they never could
O'ertake the "flying Cloud."
(25)
At length
a Spanish man o’ war
The "Dungeon" hove in view.
She fired a shot across our bows,
As a signal to heave
to.
(26)
To them we gave no answer
But steered before the wind,
When a chance
shot cut our mizzenmast off,
And then we fell
behind,
(27)
We cleared our deck for
action,
As she ranged up alongside,
And soon
upon our quarterdeck
There flowed a crimson
tide.
(28)
We fought till Captain Moorewas shot
And eighty of our
men,
When a bomeshell set our ship on fire,
We had to surrender then.
(29)
Soon we
were taken prisoners,
And into prison cast.
We were tried and found guilty,
Had to be hanged at
last,
(30)
You see what I have come
to,
By my unlucky hand,
And now I’ve e got
to die in scorn,
By the laws of Spanish land.
(31)
Fare ye well, sweet Waterford,
And the girl I love so dear,
I never more shall hear your voice,
Like music soft
and clear.
(32)
I ne'er shall kiss your
ruby lips
Or press your lily white hand,
For now I've got to die in scorn,
By the laws of Spanish
land.
Finis
Notes
1
The Flying Cloud The
name of a ship The Flying Cloud, built in the
mid 19 th century, was reknowned for its speedy transit from New York to San
Francisco around Cape Horn. The ballad, however, seems to reference an
earlier pirate ship
↵
2
"Long Tom" a term for a "large cannon with a long range"
↵
3
Spars a term for a "pole used on a sailing vessel
↵
