Lyrics:

With our nets and gear, we're faring
On the wild and wasteful ocean
It's out there on the deep; we harvest and reap our bread
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring

Oh it was a fine and pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoal of herring

Oh the work was hard and the hours were 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

Oh we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing
And I used to sleep standing on me feet
And I'd dream about shoals of herring

Oh we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to Canny Sheils we soon were bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from 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

Oh I earned me keep and I paid me 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

Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on deck with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring