Pirate Smith

DESCRIPTION: Smith scoured the seas "with a noble crew of cutthroats." "He said that grabbing booty was a Briton's pleasing duty." He'd hang foreign foemen from his lanyards. At 37 he is killed by a Spanish bullet and goes to heaven "to rest in Nelson's bosom"
AUTHOR: T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914) (source: OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads)
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship England humorous political pirate
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads 65, "Pirate Smith" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [66 words]: Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. This is one of the few non-nationalist poems I've seen from his pen. Ironically, the Smith he commemorates does not seem to be very famous; there are several Smiths with entries in Rogozinski's The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates, but none of them fit the hero of this song. - RBW
File: OLcM065

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