Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth

Various versions collected in Suffolk, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex. This version collected from a Young Tradition LP.

Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth

Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth, she's me own heart's delight,
And a long and kind letter unto her I did write;
All for to inform her what we were to undergo,
While sailing on the ocean where stormy winds blow.
 
On the eighteenth of October our barque it set sail
Pretty Nancy came down for to bid us farewell,
She said, "While you're a-sailing on the wild ocean blue,"
She said, "My own sailor, I'll be faithful to you."
 
Long years ended fast and back I did return
Pretty Nancy was married, had a home of her own,
And while I was a-sailing on the wide restless sea,
Pretty Nancy proved faithless and false unto me.
 
So come all you young sailors, take a warning by me
And never leave the lass you love for to plough the salt sea,
For while you are sailing on the wide ocean blue,
Like Nancy of Yarmouth they’ll be false unto you.