The Handsome Cabin Boy

It’s of a pretty female
As you may understand
Her mind being bent on ramblin’
Unto some far off land
She dressed herself in man’s attire
Or so it does appear
And she hired with a sea captain
To serve him for a year

And the captain’s wife, she being on board
She seemed in great joy
To think her husband had engaged
Such a handsome cabin boy
And now and then she’d slip him a kiss
And she would have liked to toy
But it was the captain found out the secret
Of this handsome cabin boy

Her cheeks they were like roses red
And her hair lay in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said
That she looked just like a girl
But eating of the captain’s biscuits
Her color it did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell
This handsome cabin boy

It was in the Bay of Biscayne
That our gallant ship did plough
That night among the sailors
Was a fearful flurry and row
They tumbled up from their hammocks
And their sleep it did destroy
And they swore about the groaning
Of this handsome cabin boy

“Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor”
This cabin boy did cry
“My time has come, I am undone
And surely I will die”
Well, the doctor came a-runnin’
And smilin’ at the fun
For to think a sailor lad should have
A daughter or a son

Then the sailors, when they saw the joke
They all did stand and stare
This child belonged to none of them
They solemnly did swear
The captain’s wife she says to him
“My dear I wish you joy
For it’s either you or me has betrayed
This handsome cabin boy”

And then each man took his tote of rum
And they drunk success to trade
And likewise to the cabin boy
Who was neither man nor maid
“Here’s hoping wars don’t rise again
Our sailors to destroy
And here’s hoping for a jolly lot more
Like the handsome cabin boy”