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
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