Gallant Victory- Johnson (MA) pre1962 Linscott
[From: Folk Songs of Old New England - Page 136; by Eloise Hubbard Linscott - 1962. The version is significantly older than 1962 but there's no information from Linscott about the date.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE GALLANT VICTORY or LOWLANDS LOW- Sung by Mrs. Lucy Palmer Johnson of Somerville, Massachusetts, both text and tune of this old sea ballad are traditional in the Palmer family.
1. The captain had a ship in the north counteree,
She went by the name of the Gallant Victory.
Says he, "I am afraid of the enemy I see,
As she sails upon the Lowlands, Lowlands, Lowlands,
And she sails upon the Lowlands low.
2. But up then spoke our Jack, he was the cabin boy,
Says, "What will you give me if them I will destroy?"
'Tis gold and silver store and my daughter dear for you,
And you sink them in the Lowlands, Lowlands, Lowlands,
And you sink them in the Lowlands low.
3. Then Jack he took his auger and overboard went he,
And swam along the side of the Gallant Victory,
He put out her[1] lights and he let the water in,
And he sank her in the Lowlands, Lowlands, Lowlands,
And he sank her in the Lowlands low.
4. The boy he bent his breast, swam around the ship's side,
"Oh, messmates, take me in, I am going with the tide."
His captain took him in, and on the deck he died,
And they sank him in the Lowlands, Lowlands, Lowlands,
And they sank him in the Lowlands low.
1. Linscott's footnote: Refers to the enemy. My comment: This originally this refers to "dazzled at (out) the light" or the sight of onrushing water coming in the ship from the holes. As: "He let water in and they dazzled at the light."