Pump or Drown

 There once was a ship called Resolution brave, 

Sailed south from Zealand into the freezing wave. 

Cook drove her deep past bergs and pack, 

Struck a great floe, the leak came back. 

Seams burst open, water poured in, 

The long cold fight was about to begin.  

 Pump or drown, my lads,

pump or drown! 

(HEY!) Heave on the brakes till the water’s down. 

(HEAVE!) Ice in the rigging, frost in the hold, 

(HAUL!) Pump or drown, lads,

pump or drown!  

 Pumps froze solid in the bitter night, 

Thawed with boiling water, by lantern light. 

Waist-deep in slush, bilge foul and black, 

Chopping channels, never looking back. 

Frostbit toes sawn off with rum and blade, 

Stench of rot, but the pumps were made. 

Pump or drown, my lads, 

pump or drown! 

(HEY!) Heave on the brakes till the water’s down. 

(HEAVE!) Ice in the rigging, frost in the hold, 

(HAUL!) Pump or drown, lads, 

pump or drown!  

Penguin blubber burned for greasy flame, 

Forty hands on the chain, calling each name. 

Seventy-one south, turned back by the wall, 

Ice thinned slow, we answered the call. 

Limped north at last to the sun and the green, 

Cleaned the reeking hold, the nightmare scene. 

 Pump or drown, my lads, 

pump or drown! 

(HEY!) Heave on the brakes till the water’s down. 

(HEAVE!) Ice in the rigging, frost in the hold, 

(HAUL!) Pump or drown, lads, 

pump or drown!  

Pumps at rest now, the timbers hold true, 

We sailed from the ice, me and my crew. 

Raise up your voices for the fight we won, 

The ship that lived through the endless run.  

Pump or drown, my lads, 

pump or drown! 

(HEY!) Heave on the brakes till the water’s down. 

(HEAVE!) Ice in the rigging, frost in the hold, 

(HAUL!) Pump or drown, lads, 

pump or drown!