By Jack Forbes

I head Jack sing this at the Hoy at Anchor folk club in Leigh on Sea, Essex. It reflects the workings of modern container shipping in the Thames estuary. OCL is the ‘Overseas Container Line’ and a TEU is a ‘Twenty foot Equivalent Unit’ – a container. Thanks, Jack, for a great song!

1. I once was a rigger and I worked like Hell
   Rollin’ up, rollin’ down
   But now I’m a sailor with the OCL
   Rollin’ down the river.Chorus
   Rollin’ up, rollin’ down
   We’ll all get drunk in Tilbury town
   In twenty-four hours we’ll turn around and go
   Rollin’ down the river.
2. The cargo comes in TEUs
   That’s a twenty-foot box, boys, full of booze.
3. When first I saw a TEU
   I wondered where they put the crew.
4. There’s a Tilbury girl called Kettle Jane
   First she’s on the boil then she’s off again.
5. She’s got a friend called Teapot Ann
   When she’s well brewed she’ll take a man to go . . .
6. The Tilbury girls go round in pairs
   You’ll never catch them unawares.
7. But at the dockyard gate when the work is done
   You can pick ’em up, boys, one by one and go . . .