| With our nets and gear we’re faring | 
| On the wild and wasteful ocean | 
| Its there that we hunt and we earn our bread | 
| As we hunted for the shoals of herring | 
| O it was a fine and a pleasant day | 
| Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring | 
| As a cabinboy on a sailing lugger | 
| For to go and hunt the shoals of herring | 
| O the work was hard and the hours long | 
| And the treatment, sure it took some bearing | 
| There was little kindness and the kicks were many | 
| As we hunted for the shoals of herring | 
| O we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank | 
| I was cook and I’d a quarter sharing | 
| And I used to sleep standing on my feet | 
| And I’d dream about the shoals of herring | 
| O we left the homegrounds in the month of June | 
| And to Canny Shiels we soon were bearing | 
| With a hundred cran of silver darlings | 
| That we’d taken from the shoals of herring | 
| Now you’re up on deck, you’re a fisherman | 
| You can swear and show a manly bearing | 
| Take your turn on watch with the other fellows | 
| While you’re searching for the shoals of herring | 
| In the stormy seas and the living gales | 
| Just to earn your daily bread you’re daring | 
| From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands | 
| As you’re following the shoals of herring | 
| O I earned my keep and I paid my way | 
| And I earned the gear that I was wearing | 
| Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes | 
| We were sailing after shoals of herring |