The Female Rambling Sailor
Come all ye maidens far and near
And listen to my ditty
It was near Gravesend there lived a maid
She was both young and pretty
Her true love he was pressed away
And drownded in a foreign sea
Which caused this fair maid for to say
I'll be a female sailor
With jacket blue and trousers white
Just like a sailor neat and tight
Sure the sea it was the heart's delight
Of the female rambling sailor
When in storm upon the raging sea
She was ready at her station
And her mind was as calm as calm could be
She loved her occupation
When in the calm this damsel young
She charmed the sailors with her tongue
She walked the deck and swiftly sang
The female rambling sailor
This maiden gay a wager lay
She would go aloft with any
From stem to stern she freely went
Where times she had been many
From stem to stern she freely goes
She braves all dangers fears no foes
And soon you'll hear of the overthrow
Of the female rambling sailor
From stem to stern she freely went
Where times she had been many
Her hold it slipped and down she fell
And calmly bid this world farewell
When a snowy white breast in sight it came
It appeared to be a female frame
And Rebecca Young it was the name
Of the female rambling sailor
O come all ye maidens far and near
Come listen to my story
Her body's anchored in the ground
Let's hope her soul's in glory
May the willows wave around her grave
And around the laurels planted
May the roses sweet grow at the feet
Of the one that was undaunted
May the roses sweet grow at the feet
Of the one that was undaunted
As fair a maid as the sun shone on
Was the female rambling sailor
On the river Fame she was known well
Few sailors there could her excel
One tear let fall for the last fairwell
Of a female rambling sailor
Notes
Many thanks to Jenny Gall for permission to use an mp3 track of this song from her 2006 CD Cantara on the Australian Folk Songs website. The CDs are available for $25 from Trad&Now or by emailing Jennifer Gall
Folklore on the Internet: Mark Gregory In Search of Rebecca Young: Eric DeBeck Warrior Women and Popular Balladry: Mark Gregory Collected by Bob Michell and Norm O'Connor from Catherine Peatey, who sings it on: Traditional Singers and Musicians in Victoria , Wattle Records 1963. In his notes on the record Edgar Waters writes "The story of a girl dressing as a man and serving as a sailor in the navy is certainly not an uncommon one in English broadside ballads of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." Top