on the fourth of july 1806 we set sail from the sweet cove of cork we were sailing away with a cargo of bricks for the grand city hall in new york t was a wonderful craft she was rigged fore and aft and oh how the wild wind drove her she stood several blasts she had twenty seven masts and they called her the irish rover we had one million bags of the best sligo rags we had two million barrels of stone we had three million sides of old blind horses hides we had four million barrels of bone we had five million hogs six million dogs seven million barrels of porter we had eight million bales of old nanny gold tails in the hold of the irish rover there was old mickey coote who played hard on his flute when the ladies lined up for a set he was tooting with skill for each sparking quadrille though the dancers were fluther d and bet with his smart witty talk he was cock of the walk he rolled the dames under and over they all knew at a glance when he took up his stance that he sailed on the irish rover there was barney mcgee from the banks of the lee there was hogan from county tyrone there was johnny mcgurk who was scared stiff of work and your man from the west meath called malone the was slugger o toole who was drunk as a rule and fighting bill tracey from dover and your man mick mccann from the banks of the bann was the skipper of the irish rover we had sailed seven years when the measles broke out and the ship lost its way in the fog and that whale of a crew was reduced down to two just myself and the captain s old dog and the ship struck a rock oh lord what a shock the bulkhead was turned right over turned nine times around and the poor old dog was drowned and that s to the irish rover