Wi our nets and gear we're faring On the wild and wispful ocean It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread As we hunt the bonny shoals o' herring T'was was a fine and a pleasant summer's day Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger We were off to hunt the shoals o' herring Now the work was hard and the hours were long And the treatment surely took some bearing There was little kindness and the kicks were many As we hunted for the shoals o' herring Now we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing And I used to sleep standin' on my feet And I'd dream about the shoals o' herring Well we left the home ground in the month o' June And for canny Shields we soon were bearing Wi a hundred cran of the silver darlings That we'd taken from the shoals o' herring Through the stormy seas and the living gale Just to earn your daily bread you're daring From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands As you're following the shoals o' herring Now you're up on deck you're a fisherman You can swear and show a manly bearing Take your turn on deck wi the other fellows As you're following the shoals o' herring Night and day we're faring Come winter wind or winter gale Sweat or cold growing up growing old and dying As you hunt the bonnie shoals o' herring