The Mermaid (ballad)

[6][7] The ballad remains part of American culture as a song sung at camps operated by the Boy Scouts of America as well as in public school music education classes.

[10] Three parallel stanzas most often follow describing how three of the crew members, contemplating impending disaster, would rather be somewhere else than on the ocean floor; for example, the cook would rather be with his pots and pans.

[13] Þa ofer wídne gársecg wéow unwidre ceald, Sum hagusteald on lagu féoll on nicera geweald.

He legde lást swa fýres gnást, he snúde on sunde fléah, Oþþæt he métte meremenn déopan grunde néah.

Oh 'twas in the broad Atlantic, mid the equinoctial gales That a young fellow fell overboard among the sharks and whales And down he went as a streak of light, so quickly down went he Until he came to a mermaid at the bottom of the deep blue sea.