CZTERY REFY - Bold Benjamin

The "Bold Benjamin"

Words traditional
Music traditional: "The Bold Benjamin"

Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea - Oh, me boys Oh!
Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea - Oh!
Brave Admiral Cole he's gone to sea
Along of our ship's company
On board the "Bold Benjamin" - Oh!

We sai-led our course away for Spain - Oh, me boys Oh!
We sailed our course away for Spain - Oh!
We sai-led our course away for Spain
Our silver and gold for to gain
On board the "Bold Benjamin" - Oh!

And when we came to Blackwall - Oh, me boys Oh!
And when we came to Blackwall - Oh!
And when we came to Blackwall
Our captain so loudly did call:
Here comes the "Bold Benjamin" - Oh!

We sail-ed out five hundred men - Oh, me boys Oh!
We sailed out five hundred men - Oh!
We sail-ed out five hundred men
And brought back but sixty one.
They were lost in "Bold Benjamin" - Oh!

Here's the mother's crying for their sons - Oh me boys Oh!
Here's the mother's crying for their sons - Oh!
Here's the mother's crying for their sons
And the widows for their husbands.
That were lost in "Bold Benjamin" - Oh!

"The Bold Benjamin" - A traditional version of a late 17th century broadside ballad starting with the words: “Captain Chilver’s gone to sea”. The ballad is entitled “The Benjamin’s Lamentation for their Sad loss at Sea, by Storms and Tempests”. According to A.L. Lloyd (Penguin Book of English Folk Songs) and C.H. Firth (Naval Songs and Ballads, Navy Records Society, 1908) it was thought that the fact that the song had an unusually metrical form might suggest that it had been - or was based on - an early shanty.