Fifteen men on the 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 bos'n's pike,
The bos'n 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!
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 all day long In up-staring eyes--
In murk sunset and at foul sunrise--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

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!
'Twas 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--
All lookouts clapped On paradise--
All souls bound just contrariwise--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em good and true--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Every man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest full of Spanish gold,
With a ton of plate in the middle hold,
And the cabins riot of [loot] 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!

More was seen through the sternlight screen--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Chartings [no doubt] where a woman had been!--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
A flimsy shift on a bunker cot,
With a thin dirk slot through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot.
Or was she wench... Or some shuddering maid...?
That dared the knife-- And took the blade!
By God! she was stuff for a plucky jade--
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Fifteen men on the 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 sullen plunge In the sullen swell,
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell!
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!