Belfast Food CroMusic at cromusic.crolinks.com [V] On the fourth of July, 1 806 We set sail from the sweet cove of Cork We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the ground city hall of New York It was wonderful craft She was rigged fore and aft And oh' how the wild wind drove over 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 bones We had five million hogs, and six million dogs Seven million barrels of Porter We had eight million bails of old nanny goats'tails In the hold of The Irish Rover There was awl Mickey Coote, who played hard on his flute When the ladies lined up for a set He was tootlin' with skill, for each sparkling quadrille Though the dancers were fluther'd and bet With his smart witty talk, he was cook of the walk And he rolled dames under and over They all knew at the glance, when he took up his stance That he sailed in The Irish Rover Three was Barney McGee, from the Banks of the Lee There was Hogan from County Tyrone There was Johny McGurke, who was scared stiff of work And the man from Westmeath called Mallone There was slugger O'Toole, who was drunk as a rule and fighting Bill Treacy from Dower And Your man Mick McKanne, from the Banks of the Bann Was the skipper on The Irish Rover We had sailed seven years When the measles broke out And the ship lost its way in the fog And that whole of the crew Was reduced down the two Just myself and the captain's old dog Then 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