Haul Away for Rosie

Hugill's source says that this was used mainly for hauling aft the foresheet after reefing the fores’l but Hugill thinks it must have been a halyard song because a sheet shanty would have no more than three or four verses. Very often the stanzas used in Haul the Bowline were fitted to it. Sometimes known as Away Haul Away

Haul Away For Rosie

Were you ever down the Eastern Shore,
It really is a treat, Oh!
Way, haul away, we'll haul away for Rosie
Way, haul away, we'll haul away for Rosie, Oh.
Them Boston whores in purple drawers
Come runnin' out to greet you.
Way, haul away, we'll haul away for Rosie
Way, haul away, we'll haul away for Rosie, Oh.

Oh, when I was a little boy
My mother often told me
That If I didn't kiss the girls
My lips would all get mouldy.

I sailed the seas for seven years
Never knew I was a-missin'
I trimmed my sails before the gales
And started out a-kissin'.

Well, first I had an Irish gal,
Her name was Kitty Brannigan
She stole me boots, she stole me clothes
She pinched me plate and pannikin.

So harken while I sing to you
About my darlin' Nancy;
She's copper-bottomed, clipper-built
And just my cut and fancy.

Once in me life I married the wife
But she was fat and lazy
She never worked a day in her life
It damn near drove me crazy.

She was out each night a hell of a sight

But where do you think we found her

Behind the pump the story goes

With fourteen blokes around her!