When the Alabama's keel was laid,

Roll, Alabama, roll!

It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird.

Oh, roll, Alabama, roll!

Down the Mersey ways she rolled then;

She was Liverpool fitted with guns and men.

From the Western Isles she sailed forth,

To destroy the commerce of the North.

To fight the North, Semmes did employ

Ev'ry method to kill and destroy.

The Alabama sailed for two whole years,

Took sixty-five ships in her career.

With British guns, oh, she was stocked;

She sailed from Fayal; in Cherbourg she docked.

To Cherbourg port she sailed one day

To collect her share of the prize money.

But off Cherbourg the Kearsarge lay tight,

With Cap'n Winslow spoilin' for a fight.

Many a sailor lad saw his doom,

When the Yankee Kearsarge hove in view.

'Twas a ball from the forward pivot that day,

Shot the Alabama's keel away.

Off the three-mile limit, in sixty-four,

They sent the Alabama to the cold ocean floor.

The Kearsarge won; the Alabama so brave*

Sank to the bottom, to a watery grave.