The three fishers | Three fishers went sailing away to the west

Three fishers went sailing away to the...

Language: English

Three fishers went sailing away to the west,
Away to the west as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbour bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep;
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in Christian Socialist, October 1851

Text Authorship:

by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), "The three fishers", appears in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Charles Ainslie Barry (1830 - 1915), "The three fishers", published 1861 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Francis Boott (1813 - 1904), "Three fishers went sailing out into the west", published 1858 [ voice and piano ], from Florence, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by John Mais Capel (1862 - 1931), "The three fishers", published <<1910 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Myles Birket Foster (1851 - 1922), "Three fishers" [ SA chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Alan Gray (1855 - 1935), "The three fishers", published 1883 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Pike Hullah (1812 - 1884), "The three fishers", <<1884 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Oliver Arthur King (1855 - 1923), "The three fishers", op. 112, published 1907 [ chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "The three fishers", published c1866 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Hubert C. Oke , "The three fishers", published 1911 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Albert R. Parsons , "The three fishers", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Roland Rogers (1847 - 1927), "Three fishers went sailing", published 1895 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ernest Walker (1870 - 1949), "The three fishers", published 1903 [ voice and piano ], from Two songs [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Natalia Konchalovskaya (1903 - 1988) ; composed by Mark Vladimirovich Mil'man.
Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation possibly by Alvilde Prydz (1846 - 1922); composed by Emil Sjögren.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Alvilde Prydz) , no title, appears in Gunvor Thorsdatter til Hærø [a novel]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-11
Line count: 21
Word count: 180