The Sailor Man

Jim Hall he was a sailor man,

     A sailor man was he;

He anchored to the State of Maine

     When not upon the sea.

A sailor man, now if you please,

     Is not a humble tar,

Nor yet a skipper, high or low,

     He’s more than that by far.

Jim Hall he was a sailor man,

     A sailor man was he;

He went into the forest bold

     And picked him out a tree.

He worked the tree into a stem,

     He hewed and laid the keel;

He planked the ship, and cut the spars

     And stripped them of their peel.

Jim Hall he was a sailor man,

     A sailor man was he;

He spliced her ropes, and calked her seams,

     And launched her in the sea.

He cut her sails and lashed them on,

     And ballasted his craft;

And knew the workings of his ship

     For’ad as well as aft.

Jim Hall he was a sailor man,

     A sailor man was he;

He built his ship and took command,

     And headed her for sea.

He knew his course and held her there,

     And every sea did span,

And brought her safely back to port –

     He was a sailor man.

Jim Hall he was a sailor man,

     A skipper of renown;

His like is hard to find today

     In any seaport town.

And when he died, at ripe old age,

     ‘Tis told in language plain,

He was the only sailor man

     Down in the State of Maine.

June 30, 1904

Note – While I’m not sure if this is related, the following is from ‘Two Years Before the Mast, By Richard Henry Dana:

‘‘Jim Hall,’’ the sailor who was made second mate of the Pilgrim in Foster’s place, after several years’ successful career as Captain and Manager of the Pacific Steamship Navigation Company on the west coast of South America with the title of Commodore, returned to this country, having saved a competence, and settled at East Braintree, Massachusetts. He called on me at my office some ten years after my father’s death. He was six feet tall, a handsome man of striking appearance, with blue eyes, nearly white hair, a ruddy countenance, and a very straight figure for one of nearly eighty years of age. He was born at Pittston, Maine, July 4, 1813. He is said to have commanded twenty—seven different vessels, steam and sail, and never to have had an accident, ‘‘never cost the underwriters a dollar.’’ He died April 22, 1904. His wife (Mary Ann Kimball of Hookset, N.H.) survived him.                                                                                                                                                                                                p. 158