Waitin' for the Day

Also known as The Worst Old Ship, or more commonly, The Collier Brig.  The only source is Bob Roberts, said to be the last of the Spritsail Bargemen, who used to sing the very similar Stormy Weather Boys as well as this song.  It is not clear whether Bob wrote these songs, or learnt them from other bargemen.  Bob Roberts was Dorset-born but grew up in Suffolk. He spent most of his working life on sailing barges carrying cargo round Britain or across the Channel to Europe.  He was active on the folk scene during the 1950s and 60s, but little known until recordings made in 1977 returned him to clubs and festivals.  Bob’s Thames sailing barge "Cambria" was the last to trade under sail on the London River and is now in the Dolphin barge Museum at Sittingbourne in Kent.


Waitin' for the day

 

The worst old brig that ever did weigh

Sailed out of Harwich on a windy day

And we're waitin' for the day

Waitin' for the day

Waitin' for the day

That we get our pay

 

She was built in Roman time

Held together with bits of twine

 

The skipper's half cut and the mate is too

The crew are fourteen men too few

And we're waitin' for the day

 

Nothing in the galley, nothing in the hold

But the skipper's turned in with a bag of gold

And we're waitin' for the day

 

Off Orford Ness she sprang a leak

Hear her poor old timbers creak

And we're waitin' for the day

 

We pumped our way round Lowestoft Ness

When the wind backed round to the west-sou'-west

And we're waitin' for the day

 

Through the Cockle to Cromer cliff

Steering like a wagon with a wheel adrift

And we're waitin' for the day

 

Into the Humber and up the town

Pump you blighters, pump or drown

And we're waitin' for the day

 

Her coal was shot by a Keadby crew

Her bottom was rotten and it went right through