C Em Am C
I done my level best, to whomever's concerned
C Em F G
For children of wailer's, we all take a turn
Dm G C Am
Now we lay in our oars boat, us six men at sea
Dm G C Am
And travel for home with rations for three
Dm G C Am
Two ounces fresh water and hardtack a day
F G C
But we'll see Nantucket again
C Em Am C
Forty days and forty nights, we followed the wind
C Em F G
In the southern Pacific, many miles from land
Dm G C Am
The first mate of Essex, and few crew with me
Dm G C Am
Our captain George Pollard is lost at the sea
Dm G C Am
And I look to the East and see nothing but blue
F G C
So what can us starving men do?
C G F G
But sing, sing, we're on our way home
C G F G7
Across the Pacific, and through the unknown
C E7 Am
With God as our shepherd then no harm shall pass
F G C
We'll be in Nantucket at last
C7 F F7
But oh, how this skin of blistered leather pulls tight on our skulls
C E7 Am
As rations all dwindle away
C7 F F7
And oh, how our dreams every night, of our stomachs so full
Dm G C Am
But awake to find water to last two more days
Dm G C Am
Our spirits all broken, our minds are all crazed
Dm G C Em Am
And oh, how I'd kill for just one more good meal
F G C
But home's a little farther away
C G F G
But sing, sing, we're on our way home
C G F G7
Across the Pacific, and through the unknown
C E7 Am
With God as our shepherd then no harm shall pass
F G C
We'll be in Nantucket at last
C7 F F7
But oh, when I look at my crewman, I see them looking back at me
C E7 Am
Humanity gone from their eyes
C7 F F7
Once we were men of our god, and brothers at sea
Dm G C Am
Those times weren't so long ago, but how quick they pass
Dm G C Am
Was once death a stranger, now approaching us fast
Dm G C Am
But we are Nantucket, the proud and the strong
F G C
For Nantucket, we must travel on
C7 F F7
But oh, how these hunger pangs drive all the thoughts in my brain
C E7 Am
And body dries up in the sun
C7 F F7
Oh, cause it's meat and fresh water that the six of us crave
Dm G C Am
So six bits of paper are tossed in the cap
Dm G C Am
And six men reach in and each pull out a scrap
Dm G C Am
And one man of six, with the unlucky draw
F G C
Is one man to help feed us all