I learned this from Bete Franklin, years ago on the Schooner Owl. He said he learned it from a record.
It's just a pretty female
As you may understand,
Her mind being bent on rambling
Unto a foreign land,
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes,
Or so it does appear,
And she signed with a captain
To serve him for a year.
The captain's wife she being on board,
She seemed in great joy
To think the captain had engaged
Such a handsome cabin boy,
That now and then she'd slip him a kiss
And she'd have liked to toy,
But 'twas the captain found out the secret
Of the handsome cabin boy.
Whose cheeks they were like roses And her hair all in a curl.
The sailors often smiled and said
He looked just like a girl.
But eating of the captain's biscuits
Her color did destroy,
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell,
The handsome cabin boy.
'Twas down the Bay of Biscay
Our gallant ship did plow.
One night amongst the sailors
A hell of a flurry and row,
It tumbled the men from out their hammocks,
Their sleep it did destroy,
Terrible cursing and the moaning of
The handsome cabin boy.
"Oh, doctor, dear, oh, doctor,"
The cabin boy did cry,
"My time has come, I am undone,
And I must surely die."
The doctor come a-running
And smiling at the fun,
For to think a sailor lad should have
A daughter or a son.
The sailors, when they heard the news,
They all did stand and stare.
The child belonged to none of them,
They solemnly do swear. The captain's wife, she says to him,
"My dear, I wish you joy,
For 'tis either you or I have betrayed
The handsome cabin boy."
Now, sailors, take your tot of rum And drink success to trade,
And likewise to the cabin boy
That was neither man nor maid.
Here's hoping the wars don't rise again
Our sailors to destroy,
And here's hoping for a jolly lot more Like the handsome cabin boy.