The Bonny Shoals Of Herring

          A                    E  A
With our nets and gear we're faring
        A        D        A E
On the wild and wasteful ocean.
       A            D           A           E        F#m
It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread
       A               D         E  A
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring.


[Verse]

       A          D      E       A
Oh it was a fine and a pleasant day
        A                      E
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
       A    E  D            F#m
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
        A                D       E  A
For to hunt the bonny shoals of herring


        A             D      E           A
O, the work was hard and the hours were long
        A                           E
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
            A    E         D                F#m
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
       A               D         E  A
As we hunted for the shoals of herring


       A                    D      E         A
O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
        A                          E
And to canny Shields we soon were bearing
       A        E   D             F#m
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
           A               D         E  A
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring


           A             D      E     A
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
         A                      E
You can swear and show a manly bearing
            A     E      D              F#m
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
              A                 D         E  A
While you're searching for the shoals of herring


       A                D       E     A
O, we fished the Sward and the Broken Bank
        A                       E
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing
       A        E     D             F#m
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
          A              D         E  A
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring


            A             D         E      A
You're net rope man now, boy you're on the move
            A                      E
And you're learning all about seafaring
            A   E       D             F#m
That's your education, scraps of navigation
          A              D         E  A
As you hunt the bonny shoals of herring


        A           D       E      A
In the stormy seas and the living gales
         A                            E
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
          A     E      D              F#m
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
           A             D         E  A
As you're following the shoals of herring


        A           D      E       A
O, I earned my keep and I paid my way
        A                         E
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
         A        E      D                 F#m
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes
          A             D         E  A
We were sailing after shoals of herring


[Outro]

(semi a capella)
           A                 E  A
Night and day the sea we're daring,
       A      D      A    E
Come wind or come winter gale,
 A            D           A              E      F#m
Sweating or cold, growing up or growing old or dying,
             A               D         E  A
While we're hunting for the shoals of herring