Twas twenty-five or thirty years
Since Jack first saw the light
He came into this world of woe
One dark and stormy night
He was born on board his father's ship
As she was lying to
'Bout twenty-five or thirty miles
South-east of Bacalieu

When Jack grew up to be a man
He went to Labrador
He fished in Indian Harbour
Where his father fished before
On his returning in the fog
He met a heavy gale
And Jack was swept into the sea
And swallowed by a whale

The whale went straight for Baffin's Bay
Bout ninety knots an hour
And every time he'd blow a spray
He'd send it in a shower
"O now", says Jack unto himself
"I'll see what he's about"
He caught the whale all by the tale
And turned him inside out