From the recording The Irish Rover

Lyrics

In the year of our lord 1806, we set sail from the coal quay of Cork
We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks, for that grand city hall in New York
We’d an elegant craft that was rigged fore and aft, and how the trade winds they drove her
She had twenty three masts, and she stood several blasts
And they called her the Irish Rover

There was Barney McGee, from the banks of the Lee,
There was Hogan from the county Tyrone
There was Johnny McGirk, who was scared stiff sick of work
And a chap from Westmeath named Malone
There was slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule, and fighting Bill Tracy from Dover
And young Mic McGann from the banks of the Bann
Was the skipper of the Irish Rover

We had one million bags of the sligo diaper rags, we had two million barrels of bone
We had three million bales, of nanny goat tails, we had four million barrels of stone
We had five million hogs, and six million dogs, seven million barrels of porter
Eight million sides of old blind horses hides, in the hold of the Irish Rover

We sailed seven years and the measles broke out, And our ship lost her way in the fog
And the whole of the crew was reduced down to two,
T'was myself and the captain's old dog
The ship struck a rock, and oh Lord what a shock, And nearly tumbled over
It turned nine times around, till that poor old dog got drowned
Now I'm the last of the Irish Rovers