when the boats come back from yarmouth Lyrics

The men donned their coats

And boarded their boats

Steam drifters filled with coal

They sailed through the mouth

Of Wick harbour and turned South

In search of the Silver darlings*

The wives and the bairns

Waved farewell from the pier

As smoke faded over the horizon

A wee laskie asked "what will daddy bring home

When the boats come back from Yarmouth?"

Through mountainous seas

They crossed the forties

The wind at their backs drove them on

The waves rose and fell

As they ploughed through the swell

The nets cast and full by the dawn

The Mam said to her lass

As she put her to her bed

Your Dad will aye mind to bring something

But for your cockaleerie** you'll have to wait

Till the boats come back from Yarmouth

The weather was fair

As they sailed up the Yare

Joined hundreds docked in Yarmouth harbour

The crew had to wait till they loaded up the crates

For the boats to come back from Yarmouth

The drifter set forth

Her compass set for north

The Mam told her lass what she'd seen

"Away down to the quay

Your dad's home from the sea

And the boats are all back from Yarmouth"