C            Em           Am            C 
I done my level best, to whomever's concerned 
    C            Em           F            G 
For children of wailer's, we all take a turn 
        Dm         G                 C        Am 
Now we lay in our oars boat, us six men at sea 
      Dm         G                 C        Am 
And travel for home with rations for three 
      Dm         G                 C        Am 
Two ounces fresh water and hardtack a day 
 F                   G       C 
But we'll see Nantucket again 

   C            Em           Am            C 
Forty days and forty nights, we followed the wind 
    C            Em           F            G 
In the southern Pacific, many miles from land 
     Dm         G                 C        Am 
The first mate of Essex, and few crew with me 
     Dm         G                 C        Am 
Our captain George Pollard is lost at the sea 
    Dm         G                 C        Am 
And I look to the East and see nothing but blue 
   F                   G       C 
So what can us starving men do? 

      C     G       F                G 
But sing, sing, we're on our way home 
    C     G       F                G7 
Across the Pacific, and through the unknown 
   C                E7                        Am 
With God as our shepherd then no harm shall pass 
 F              G            C 
We'll be in Nantucket at last 

    C7            F                          F7 
But oh, how this skin of blistered leather pulls tight on our skulls 
 C             E7       Am 
As rations all dwindle away 
     C7               F              F7 
And oh, how our dreams every night, of our stomachs so full 
   Dm          G       C                   Am 
But awake to find water to last two more days 
      Dm          G       C                   Am 
Our spirits all broken, our minds are all crazed 
    Dm          G       C                Em   Am 
And oh, how I'd kill for just one more good meal 
     F            G            C 
But home's a little farther away 

      C     G       F                G 
But sing, sing, we're on our way home 
    C     G       F                G7 
Across the Pacific, and through the unknown 
   C                E7                        Am 
With God as our shepherd then no harm shall pass 
 F              G            C 
We'll be in Nantucket at last 

         C7            F                          F7 
But oh, when I look at my crewman, I see them looking back at me 
   C             E7       Am 
Humanity gone from their eyes 
 C7               F              F7 
Once we were men of our god, and brothers at sea 
   Dm          G       C                   Am 
Those times weren't so long ago, but how quick they pass 
  Dm          G       C                   Am 
Was once death a stranger, now approaching us fast 
  Dm          G       C                   Am 
But we are Nantucket, the proud and the strong 
   F            G            C 
For Nantucket, we must travel on 

    C7            F                          F7 
But oh, how these hunger pangs drive all the thoughts in my brain 
 C             E7       Am 
And body dries up in the sun 
 C7               F              F7 
Oh, cause it's meat and fresh water that the six of us crave 
  Dm          G       C                   Am 
So six bits of paper are tossed in the cap 
   Dm          G       C                   Am 
And six men reach in and each pull out a scrap 
   Dm          G       C                   Am 
And one man of six, with the unlucky draw 
 F            G            C 
Is one man to help feed us all