Upon the sea is come;
His name is Captain Ward,
Right well it doth appear,
There has not been such a rover
Found out this thousand year:

2.
For he hath sent unto our King,
The sixth of January,
Desiring that he might come in
With all his company.
'And if your King will let me come
Till I my tale have told,
I will bestow for my ransom,
Full thirty ton of gold.'

3.
'O nay, O nay,' then said our King,
'O nay, this may not be,
To yield to such a rover,
Myself will not agree:
He hath deceived the Frenchman,
Likewise the King of Spain,
And how can he be true to me,
That hath been false to twain?'

4.
With that our King provided
A ship of worthy fame,
Rainbow is she called,
If you would know her name:
Now the gallant Rainbow
She rows upon the sea,
Five hundred gallant seamen
To bear her company.

5.
The Dutchman and the Spaniard,
She made them for to fly,
Also the bonny Frenchman,
As she met him on the sea.
When as this gallant Rainbow
Did come where Ward did lie,
'Where is the captain of this ship?'
This gallant Rainbow did cry.

6.
'O, that am I,' says Captain Ward,
'There's no man bids me lie,
And if thou art the King's fair ship,
Thou art welcome to me.'
'I'll tell thee what,' says Rainbow,
'Our King is in great grief,
That thou shouldst lie upon the sea,
And play the arrant thief,

7.
'And will not let our merchants' ships
Pass as they did before;
Such tidings to our King is come,
Which grieves his heart full sore.'
With that, this gallant Rainbow
She shot, out of her pride,
Full fifty gallant brass pieces
Charged on every side.

8.
And yet these gallant shooters
Prevailed not a pin,
Though they were brass on the outside,
Brave Ward was steel within;
Shoot on, shoot on,' says Captain Ward,
'Your sport well pleaseth me,
And he that first gives over,
Shall yield unto the sea.

9.
'I never wronged an English ship,
But Turk and King of Spain,
For and the jovial Dutchman,
As I met on the main;
If I had known your King
But one-two years before,
I would have saved brave Essex life,
Whose death did grieve me sore.

10.
'Go tell the King of England,
Go tell him thus from me,
If he reigns King of all the land,
I will reign King at sea.'
With th