In the year of Our Lord eighteen-hundred and six
We set sail from the port quay of Cork
We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks
For the grand City Hall in New York
We'd an elegant craft, she was rigged fore and aft
And how the trade winds drove her
She had twenty-three masts and she stood several blasts
And they called her the Irish Rover
There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Leith
There was Hogan from county Tyrone
There was Johnny McGirk, who was scared stiff of work
And a chap from Westmeath named Malone
We had Slugger O'Toole, who was drunk as a rule
And Fighting Bill Tracy from Dover
And your man, Mick McCann, from the banks of the Bann
Was the skipper on the Irish Rover
We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags
We had two million barrels of bone
We had three million bales of old nanny goats' tails
We had four million barrels of stone
We had five million hogs
And six million dogs
Seven million barrels of porter
We had eight million sides of old blind horses' hides
In the hold of the Irish Rover
We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out
And the ship lost her way in a fog (great fog)
And the whale of a crew was reduced down to two
Twas meself and the captain's old dog (big dog)
Well, the ship struck a rock, oh Lord what a shock
And nearly tumbled over
Turned nine times around and the poor old dog was drowned
I'm the last of the Irish Rover