Learned this on a steel, dutch-built sloop from from a young fellow from South Caicos named Harold Wilson.
Taught him a few chords on guitar one year, and when I took over as captain of that boat, he taught me a few songs fro the Caribbean.
Harold learned the guitar quite quickly, and made his brother (who worked on another boat in the neighborhood and whose name I have forgotten)
a little jealous thereby. So, while Harold played and sang, his brother used to play that boat like a harp, or a steel band. The guitar is
trying to imitate me and Harold and Harold's Brother all at once, here. (This one can give you blisters.)
The three boats in this song were, according to Harold, rum-runners. A favorite trik, in those days, was to make a run, bring the boat ashore.
paint her a different color and take her back out again. Harold said that the U.S. Feds were fooled by that, off and on.
I rely a lot on phonetic memory, here; Harold pronounced the third boat's name in a variety of ways, and I'm not sure we ever really
understood each other, anyway. Here's my best shot:
Belamena, Belamena, Belamena's in the Harbor,
Belemena, Belamena, Belamena's in the Harbor.
Put the Belamena on the dock
And paint the Belamena black,
Paint the Belamena Black, black, black
When she come back she was white.
Oh the mystery, Oh the mystery,
she used to carry whiskey.
Little Mystery, oh the Mystery,
Little boat very frisky.
Put the Mystery on the dock...(etc)
(Here I had trouble: every time he sang the boat's name, he pronounced it differently...)
Oh, Inagua, Great Inagua (name of island) (Lady 'Nagua?),
She got stuck in New York Harbor,
Oh, Managua (?), Late Inagua (?),
Carried a very funny Cargo.
Put the Inagua on the dock...(etc)