Mates Together Ye Banished Privateers

When I was young, I sailed across the oceans
Where I sought to start my life anew
I was bent, to head out on the North Sea
As a whaler, I set out to be

Went to quench my thirst out in a tavern
Where I met a British privateer
Will you put your mark here on my paper?
No, says I, and finished my third beer

But when I left, a bully in the alley
With his mates, they struck me to the ground
And to their ship, they with me senseless carried
When I woke, my hands and feet were bound

Mates together, through stormy weather
Through gentle breeze and over raging seas
Free from tether but bound forever
I've been fifteen years a privateer

I was taught to raid the trading Frenchmen
For a share I fought for three hard years
Then sold by captains closest henchmen
To a crew of exiled cavaliers

So yet again a bully in the alley
With his mates they struck me to the ground
And as ships cook, they stuck me in the galley
For to feed the sailors all around