The Old Polina
There's a noble fleet of whalers, ‘a sailing from Dundee
Manned by British sailors to take them o'er the sea
On a western ocean passage, we started on the trip
And we flew along just like a song on our gallant whaling ship
CHORUS:
For the wind was on her quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons
For we challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's
‘Twas the second Sunday morning, just after leaving port
We met a heavy sou'west gale that washed away our boat
It washed away our quarterdeck, our stanchions just as well
And so we set the whole she-bang a-floating in the gale
CHORUS
Art Jackman set his canvas, Fairweather got up steam
And Captain Guy the daring boy came plunging through the stream
And Mullins in the Husky tried to beat the bloody lot
But to beat the Old Polina, was something he could not
CHORUS
There's the noble Terra Nova, a model without doubt
The Arctic and Aurora, they talk so much about
Art Jackman's model mail boat, the terror of the sea
Tried to beat the Old Polina on a passage from Dundee
CHORUS
And now we're back in old St. John's where rum is very cheap
We'll drink a health to Captain Guy who brought us o'er the deep
A health to all our sweethearts, and to our wives so fair
Not another ship could make the trip with the Polina I declare
CHORUS
First appeared in print in Gerald S. Doyle’s Old-Time Songs of Newfoundland, 3rd ed., 1955.