There was a gay young farmer, who lived on Sal's'bry Plain, He lov'd a rich knight's daughter dear, an' she lov'd him again; The knight was so distress-ed, that they should sweet-hearts be, That he had the farmer soon press-ed, and he whipp'd him off to sea
Singin' Rule Brittania! Two tanners make a bob, Five make two an' six, an' one for his knob!
'Twas on the deep Atlantic midst the equinoctial gales, The young farmer fell overboard among the sharks and whales; He disappeare so quickly, headlong down went he, And he went out of sight, like a streak o' light, to the bottom of the deep blue sea. We lowered a boat to find him, we thought to see his corpse, When up to the top, he came with a shock, and said in a voice so hoarse, "My shipmates and my messmates, oh, do not weep for me, For I'm married to a mermaid at the bottom of the deep, blue sea."

Tom Goux and Jacek Sulanowski perform this song with concertina and whistle on Born of Another Time. The liner notes credit Hugill’s book, Songs of the Sea. The same recording is released on Classic Maritime Music.

The chorus parodies the 1740 patriotic song Rule Britannia which is closely associated with the British Navy.