English translation

We sailed away to Cardiff town, From there to Bahia we were bound, In Cardiff we lost our fine Old Man, And Hard-tack Hans we got, got, got.
(Repeat last two lines in each verse as chorus)
With a following wind we steered away, The t'gallants blew out the following day, They boom and they shook, made a dreadful kicking, In that very old piece of loot, loot, loot. Being what it is - the windmill pump, Would neither go, nor suck a drop, Yes, for it to work it must blow a hurricane, And so we pumped out eighteen inches - water, water, water. One week of this soon got us down, "The bread's nearly gone," said Hard-tack Hans, Twelve packets were made - one for each man, To whack out the bread till we came to land, land, land.

Capt. Sternvall’s source sang this song aboard the Larvik in 1904-05, as recorded in Sång Under Segel. It is of Norwegian origin. It exemplifies that sailor adage: growl ye may, but go ye must.