A boy to me was bound apprentice
Because his parents, they were poor
I took him from St James's Workhouse
Oh for to sail on the Spanish shore
One day this boy did offend me
Then nothing to him that I did say
But straightways to my yardarm I dragged him
And I kept him there til the very next day
His hands and feet they hung toward me
His arms and legs hung down like vines
And with my tarry rope I k**ed him
Because I would not bear his cries.