The Famous Sea-fight between Captain Ward and the
RAINBOW. To the Tune of, Captain Ward.
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STrike up you lusty Gallants,
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with Musick and sound of Drum
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For we have descryed a Rower,
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upon the Sea is come.
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His name is Captain Ward,
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right well it doth appear,
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There has not been such a Rower,
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found out this thousand year.
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For he has sent unto our King,
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the sixt of January,
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Desiring that he might come in,
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with all his company.
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And if your King will let me come,
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till I my tale have told,
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I will bestow for my ransome
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full thirty Tun of Gold.
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O nay, O nay, then says our King,
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O nay, this may not be,
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To yield to such a Rower,
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my self will not agree.
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He has deceived the Frenchman,
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likewise the King of Spain,
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And how can he be true to me,
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that hath been false to twain.
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With that our King provided
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a Ship of worthy fame,
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Rainbow she is called,
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if you would know her name.
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Now the gallant Rainbow,
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she rows upon the Sea,
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Five hundred gallant Seamen
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to bear her company.
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The Dutch-man and the Spaniard,
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she made them for to flye,
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Also the bonny French-man,
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as she met them on the Sea.
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When as this gallant Rainbow,
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did come where Ward did lye,
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Where is the Captain of this Ship,
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this gallant Rainbow did cry.
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O that am I says Captain Ward,
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theres no man bids me lye,
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And if thou art the Kings fair Ship,
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thou art welcome unto me.
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Ile tell the what says Rainbow,
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our King is in great grief,
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That thou shouldst lye upon the Sea
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and play the arrant thief.
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ANd will not let our Merchants ships
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pass as they did before,
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Such tydings to our King is come,
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which grieves his heart full sore.
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With that this gallant Rainbow,
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she shot out of her Pride,
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Full fifty gallant brass pieces,
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charged on every side.
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Although these gallant Shooters
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prevailed not a pin,
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Though they were brass on the outside
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yet Ward was steel within.
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Shoot on, shoot on, says Captain ward
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your sport well pleaseth me,
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And he that first gives over,
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shall yield unto the Sea.
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I never wronged an English Ship,
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but Turk and King of Spain,
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For and the Jovial Dutch-man,
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as I met on the main.
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If I had known your King,
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but one two years before,
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I would have savd brave Essexs life
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whose death did grieve me sore.
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Go tell the King of England,
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go tell him thus from me,
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If he reign King of all the Land,
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I will reign King at Sea.
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With that the gallant Rainbow shot
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and shot and shot in vain,
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And left the Rowers company,
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and returned home again.
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Our Royal King of England,
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your Ships returnd again,
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For Wards Ship is so strong,
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she never will be tane.
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O everlasting says our King,
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I have lost jewels three,
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Which would a gone unto the Seas
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and brought proud Ward to me.
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The first was Lord Clifford,
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Earl of Cumberland,
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The second was the Lord Mountjoy,
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as you shall understand.
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The third was brave Essex,
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from field would never flee,
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Which would have gone unto the seas,
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and brought proud Ward to me.
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