Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest

1. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
   Drink and the devil had done for the rest
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
   The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
   The bosun brained with a marlinspike
   And cookey's throat was marked belike
   It had been gripped by fingers ten;
   And there they lay, all good dead men
   Like break o'day in a boozing ken
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

2. Fifteen men of the whole ship's list
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   The skipper lay with his nob in gore
   Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
   And the scullion he was stabbed times four
   And there they lay, and the soggy skies
   Dripped down in up-staring eyes
   In murk sunset and foul sunrise
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

3. Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   Was a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
   Or a yawing hole in a battered head
   And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red
   And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes
   Looking up at paradise
   All souls bound just contrawise
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

4. Fifteen men of 'em good and true
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew,
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
   There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
   With a ton of plate in the middle hold
   And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
   And they lay there that took the plum
   With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
   While we shared all by the rule of thumb,
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

5. More was seen through a sternlight screen
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
   Chartings undoubt where a woman had been
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
   Was a flimsy shift on a bunker cot
   With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
   And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot
   Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
   That dared the knife and took the blade
   By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

6. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
   Drink and the devil had done for the rest
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
   We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight
   With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
   And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
   With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well
   And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
   Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell,
   Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

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