Interesting Facts about the The Chinee Bumboatman
“The Chinee Bumboatman”, usually forebitter, this version, which comes from Bill Fuller. According to him, it was also used for pumps. The song had a probable beginning in the Royal Navy, on the China coast.
I will reconstruct this song as a forebitter.
The source of this sea shanty
The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 455).
The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 455,456).
The Record of the The Chinee Bumboatman
You also can find this record on my YouTube channel here or directly listen below. Additionally, if you want to share your opinion about the record or share your opinion you can do it in my Facebook forum here, or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog article.
The musical notation

The full lyrics
The Chinee Bumboatman
Till sing ye a story o’ trouble an’ woe, That ‘ll cause ya to shoulder an’ shiver,
Concernin’ a Chinee bumboatman, that sailed the Yang-Tze River,
He wuz a heathen o’ ‘igh degree, As the jass-house records show,
His family name wuz Wing Chang Loo, But the sailors all called him Jim Crow-se-aye-oh-ee-eye,
– Hitchee-kum, kitche-kum, ya! ya! ya!
– Sailorman no like me,
– No savvy the story of Wing Chang Loo,
– Too much of the bober-eye-ee, Kye-eye!
* 2 *
Now Wing Chang Loo he feel in love, with a gal called Ah Chu Fong.
She ‘ad two eye like pumpkin seeds, an’ slippers two inches long,
But Ah Chu Fong loved a pirate bold with all her heart an’ liver,
He wuz capitan of a double-decked junk, an’ he sailed the Yang-Tze River-eye-iver-eye!
* 3 *
When Wing Chang Loo he head o’ this, he swore an’ ‘oribble oath:
‘If Ah Chu marries that pirate bold, I’ll make sausage meat o’ ’em both.’
So he hoisted his blood-red battle flag, put into the Yang-Tze River,
He steered her east an, south an’ west, till that pirate he did diskiver-eye-iver-eye.
* 4 *
The drums they beat to quarters an’ the cannons did loudly roar,
The red-‘ot dumplin’s flew like lead, an’ the scuppers they ran with gore.
The pirate paced the quarter deck with never a shake nor a shiver,
He wuz shot in the stern wi’ a hard-boiled egg, that pinitrated his liver-eye-iver-eye.
* 5 *
The dyin’ pirate feebly cried, ‘We’ll give the foe more shot,
If I can’t marry Ah Chu Fong, then Wing Chang Loo shall not.’
When a pease-pudden ‘ot hit the bumboat’s side, it caused a ‘orrible scene,
It upset a pot of ‘ot bow-wow soup, an’ exploded the magazye-eenee-eye-eenee!