Dan's Dream

Here's the dream I had, boys, an' I tell you true, I saw the old Fulmar plain as I see you - I saw the old Fulmar as she used to be Many an' many a year since, when I was first at sea. Just the bloomin' same, lads, as I've seen her look Crackin' on with all she'd stand, bound for Pernambuck; Every stitch a-drawin' - flyin' kites an' all - An' the crowd all haulin', tallyin' on the fall. All her swellin' canvas shinin' as she came, Rosy in the sunset, with all her gilt trucks aflame, With a bone between her teeth, under royals runnin' free, I saw the old Fulmar swingin' out to sea. I saw the old man there, as life-like as you please, With his old white whiskers blowin' in the breeze, An' the mate in the waist, an' the look-out at the fore, An' old Slush standin' just inside his galley door. All the crowd was there, boys, all the chaps I knew, Dagoes, Dutch an' British, good an' bad uns too, The seamen an' the sojers, the worst an' the best, An' myself there among 'em, haulin' with the rest. That's the dream I had, boys, an' so I tell you true, I saw the old Fulmar - I saw her an' I knew - Knew her to a gantline as I ought to know - Me as served aboard her forty years ago.