By Larry Kaplan

1. We set our traps in the bitter cold
   It was the third day of the year
   There were three of us then, we were the youngest of ten
   Two for lines and one for gear
   When it blows northeast on the Georges Bank
   You don’t like to take your time
   But the engine was old, she didn’t like the cold
   And we fell back on our line.Chorus
   Get her into shore, she can’t take it anymore
   She’s too far from home it’s gonna break her bones
   Can’t you get her into shore.
2. Jack throws the switch he says, The old sonofabitch
   What the Hell do you think you’re doing
   You brought us to the poor house too many times
   You ain’t takin’ us to our ruin
   But the line went slack we felt the stern turn back
   And she started up again
   But she just tightened up and I knew we were stuck
   Lyin’ broadside to the wind.
3. Tom put the helm over to run with the tide
   But she fell into the trough
   And with her side to the swell she leaned in and fell
   And I knew we all were lost
   And I that I saw was her rotten old keel
   With that rope flung across her stern
   And I couldn’t hold to her, and I couldn’t go down
   I just wished I’d never been born.
4. Now the tide runs hard in the wintertime
   You’re a fool to go and try
   God bless the poor man who was born on the sea
   God save the poor men, who die.