Christy Moore - Van Diemen's Land lyrics

Me and three more went out one
Night into Squire Noble’s park
We were hoping we might catch some
Game the night been proven dark
It being out sad misfortune they
Captured us with speed
And brought us down to Warwick Gaol
Did cause our hearts to bleed

Young men all be aware lest you
Be drawn into a snare
Young men all be aware lest you
Be drawn into a snare

It was about the fifth of March me
Boys at the court we did appear
Like Job we stood with patience
Our sentence to hear
Without jury bail nor witness our
Case it did go hard
Our sentence was for fourteen years straight
Away being sent on board
The ship that bore us from the
Land the Speedwell was her name
For full five months and upwards
We ploughed the raging main
We saw no land nor harbour I
Tell you it's no lie
All around us one black ocean
Above us one blue sky

About the fifth of August tis
Then we made the land
At five o’clock next morning they
Tied us hand to hand
To see our fellow sufferance filled
My heart with woe
For there’s some chained to the harrow
And the others to the plough

To see our fellow sufferance it
Filled me with despair
For they’d leather smocks and
Lindsey shorts and
Their feet and hands were bare
They tied them up two by two
Like horses in a dray
And the driver he stood over
Them with his Malacca cane

There was a female prisoner
Rosanna was her name
For sixteen years a convict
From Wolverhampton came
She often told her tale of love
When she was young at home
But now it’s rattling of the chains
In a foreign land to roam

Come all of you young poaching lads
And a warning take from me
Mark you well the story that I
Tell and guard your destiny
Its all about transported lads
As you may understand
And the hardships we did undergo
Going to Van Dieman’s Land