Harry Maltee- Stevenson (CO) pre1962 Lumpkin
[From Ben Gray Lumpkin's Colorado Folksongs and Ballads, I (1962), p. 5. This is not in the Lumpkin Collection online.
R. Matteson 2013]
"Harry Maltee"- Sung by Mr. H. B. Stevenson, Lewis, Colo., August 1962; learned from his father. Recorded by Dr. J. B. Wheat; transcribed by Miss Helen Wilson. The tune obviously derives from Auld Lang Syne.
1. Three loving brothers from old England came.
Three loving brothers were they.
They all cast lots among the three
To see who the robber should be.
2. Oh the lot it fell on Harry Maltee,
The youngest of the three,
That he should go robbing upon the salt sea
To maintain his two brothers and he.
3. Well he'd not sailed long,
Till one cold frosty morn,
A rich merchant vessel he spied,
While rounding cape Horn.
4. "Who are you, who are you?" cried Harry Maltee.
"Who are you that dare come so nigh?"
"I'm a rich merchant vessel;
And, please sir, won't you let me pass by?"
5. "Oh no, oh no," cried Harry Maltee.
"Oh no, that never can be;
I've turned robber upon the salt sea
To maintain my two brothers and me."
6. From broadside to broadside they watched
For two long hours or three,
When the rich merchant vessel received a bad wound,
And down to the bottom sank she.
7. Bed news, bad news to old England came,
Bad news, what a terrible sound!
The rich merchant vessel'd been cast away,
And all her merry men drown'd.