Full and By

Full and By
Hymnal Index | Ship's Company Website

Tiger Jim Rockwell

Full and by, full and by, we're sailing full and by
We're sailing the winds as they go.
Some beat up channel and others just run.
Some are just happy to loll in the sun
But we'll fill our sails with the rollicking gales
And reach for the stars distant glow.

There's nothing so handsome as a ship in her prime
Dressed in her finest array
Dancing her tango twixt the wind and the sea
Whirling and driving away.

With every stitch drawing her over the main
She weaves through the waves' briny crest
Driving her way the the spume and the spray
She bends to the work she loves best.

She may be becalmed, backwinded or stalled
Or even knocked down now and then.
But she'll shake herself off and with all hands aloft
She'll go plowing the seas once again.

Year in and year out with many a shout,
a curse and a cheer and a rave,
She'll follow her love neath the heaven above
Till finally she reaches her grave.

But never you fret and don't you forget
Even though the Grim Reaper draws nigh,
She'll sink in the in the tide with honor and pride
So long as she's sailed full and by.