I saw a ship a-sailing

   A-sailing on the sea;

And, oh! it was all laden

   With pretty things for thee!



There were comfits in the cabin,

   And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of silk, 

   And the masts were made of gold:



The four-and-twenty sailors

   That stood between the decks,

Were four-and-twenty white mice,

   With chains about their necks.



The captain was a duck,

   With a packet on his back;

And when the ship began to move,

   The captain said,"Quack! quack!"

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 80. No. CCCLXXVII

I saw a ship a-sailing,

   A-sailing on the sea;

And oh! it was a-laden

   With pretty things for me!



There were comfits in the cabin,

   And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of satin, 

   The masts of beaten gold.



The four-and-twenty sailors

   That stood between the decks,

Were four and twenty white mice,

   With chains about their necks.



The captain was a duck, sir,

   With a packet on his back,

And when the ship was sailing,

   The captain said, Quack! quack!

Baring-Gould, Sabine. A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes. Illus. by Members of the Birmingham Art School under the direction of A. J. Gaskin. London, England: Methuen, 1895, p. 55. No. XLII

I SAW a ship a-sailing

   A-sailing on the sea;

And, oh! it was all laden

   With pretty things for thee!



There were comfits in the cabin,

   And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of silk, 

   And the masts were made of gold.



The four-and-twenty sailors

   That stood between the decks,

Were four-and-twenty white mice,

   With chains about their necks.



The captain was a duck,

   With a packet on his back;

And when the ship began to move,

   The captain said, "Quack! quack!"

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, p. 139.

I saw a ship a-sailing,

   A-sailing on the sea,

And oh but it was laden

   With pretty things for me.



There were comfits in the cabin,

   And sweetmeats in the hold;

The sails were made of silk, 

   And the masts were all of gold.



The four-and-twenty sailors,

   That stood between the decks,

Were four-and-twenty white mice

   With chains about their necks.



The captain was a duck

   With a jacket on his back,

And when the ship began to move

   The captain said Quack! Quack!

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, pp.381-382. No. 470

I saw a ship a-sailing,

   A-sailing on the sea,

And oh but it was laden,

   With pretty things for me.



There were comfits in the cabin,

   And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of silk, 

   And the masts were all of gold.



The four-and-twenty sailors,

   That stood between the decks,

Were four-and-twenty white mice

   With chains about their necks.



The captain was a duck

   With a packet on his back,

And when the ship began to move

   The captain said Quack! Quack!

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 173. No. 271