Pelorus Jack

Rowing, hauling, rowing
Rowing, hauling, rowing
Rowing, hauling, rowing
Rowing, hauling, rowing

Sweetest Alice and children mine
Let me put pen to paper one more time
Up above is the tempest roar
And I can't say I'll visit home no more
Now the bosun's been swept away
And the skipper is fighting with the spray
Ropes are taught and the mainsail's gone
And we can't hear the orders through the throng
Now I turn and look out to sea
And a curious vision puzzles me
Through the porthole across the mist
If it's him, it's chance fortune us has kissed

Call me Pelorus Jack
I'll take you through the bad times
I don't ask for nothing back
Let me lay my songlines
I'm high in the dancing air
And deep in the swirling waters
I feel happy everywhere
Let me play my songlines

So we followed him through the squall
Taking water from all sides, masted full
And despite the poor souls we lost
We were spared a far greater deathly cost
All the time he did pave the way
Taking us through this liquid hell so gay
That it struck me as very queer
That the din of the storm he did not hear
All the time it seemed like a game
And his pupil's glint put my fear to shame
In the harbour we cheered with rum
And that night was the dolphin song we sung

Call me Pelorus Jack
I'll take you through the bad times
I don't ask for nothing back
Let me lay my songlines
I'm high in the dancing air
And deep in the swirling waters
I feel happy everywhere
Let me play my songlines

Many lives did Pelorus save
As he steered ships in peril through the waves
'Til a cargo of savage scum
Did a steel harpoon through his soft heart gun

Call me Pelorus Jack
I'll take you through the bad times
I don't ask for nothing back
Let me lay my songlines
I'm high in the dancing air
And deep in the swirling waters
I feel happy everywhere
Let me play my songlines