English translation

I once saw a Hamburg four-masted bark, Ch: To me hoodah! To me hoodah! Her masts were as crooked as the Old Man's legs.
To me hoodah, hoodah, ho! Blow, boys, blow! For Californ-i-O! There's plenty of gold, so I've bin told, On the banks of the Sacramento!
Her decks were of iron, full of dirt and of muck, The ship-cleaners in harbor thought she was vile. Her fo'c'sle full of bugs, her galley full of mud, The weevils they ran about freely. The salt-meat was green, full of maggots the pork, The rum was dished out at Christmas alone. When we were trying to sail this old tub, She'd sail ahead three and sail back four. The captain was hopeless, the same as that ship, The crew for that packet were all shanghaied men.

This is the Plattdeutsch (Low German) version of the American Banks of the Sacramento. According to Stan Hugill:

It was very popular in ships of the Laiesz line of Hamburg engaged in the Chilean nitrate trade, and was even heard aboard the German four-masted bark Pamir.

It is also said to be one of the very few German sailorsongs taught in school and known to most German school children. The English refrains of “Hoodah, hoodah!” are sung here as “Howday, howday!” The Norwegians, who also like this shanty, sang “Ota Hayti, ota Hayti!”—referring to the Pacific island of Tahiti; the Swedes, in their own language version, had “O, Bermudas, O, Bermudas!” Like many sailorsongs it is critical of the state of the old-time sailing ships—bad grub, rotten gear, a surfeit of bugs and weevils, rotten salt junk, and maggoty salt horse.