Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
Verse 1
Oh Pieter, my Pieter is calling to me
And the sun shone bright in your hair
There’s riches and land, on Batavias strand
And I hope you’ll come sailing with me
Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
Verse 2
On the Zeewijk we cut round cut round the great southern cape.
And the sun shone bright in your hair
Wed made it at last, by keel and by mast
To the unwavering roaring forties.
Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
Verse 3
But too long did we sail in that roaring gale,
And the sun shone bright in your hair
We’re running a ground sir the ships all but floundered
But I held on to you for safety.
Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
Verse 4
A crime, a crime! A quartermaster decreed.
The crime of sodomy
We’ll leave them behind when we sail on the tide.
And they’ll die for their sins by the sea
Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
Verse 5
The waves are calling us gently my love
And the sun, shone bright in your hair
No treasure or gold, compares to what I now hold
And the short life we have by the sea
Oh please love don’t cry though they sent us to die
At the edge of the billowing sea
They only gave us one bullet so let’s just not pull it
And spend the rest of your life here with me
based on a true story but with a slightly happier ending.
In 1727, before British settlement, the Dutch ship Zeewijk foundered on what is now known as Gun Island off Geraldton in Western Australia. Two sailors found guilty of sodomy were sentenced to death and exiled to separate smaller islands without food or water. See here.
Featured Image (C) Cindy Tonkin: Don Brian pushing the capstan on the James Craig, 2022.
