Old Melodies

What vessel are you sailing in?

No. 1170
Metre C. M.
Tune SHIP ZION.
Words Anon.
Music Scottish.
Key F major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
5 stanzas

Words

What vessel are you sailing in?Declare to us the same.Our vessel is the church of God,And Christ our captain's name,And Christ our captain's name,

And are you not afraid some stormYour bark will overwhelm?No, bless the Lord, we need not fear;Our Father's at the helm.

Our compass is the sacred word;Our anchor, blooming hope;The love of God our maintop sail,And faith our cable rope.

The sun is up, the clouds are gone,The heavens above are clear;The city bright, appears in sight;We're getting round the pier.

And when we all are landed safeOn the celestial plain,Our song shall be, "Worthy's the LambFor rebel sinners slain."

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «MISCELLANEOUS—OLD MELODIES.» (shared with 1169); hymn number «1170» (large), tune name «SHIP ZION. C. M.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals), «SCOTTISH.» at the right; no reference line. Stanza 1 is interlinear in a condensed bold roman: «1. What ves - sel are you sail·ing in? De - clare to us the same. Our ves - sel is the church of God,» (system 1) and «And Christ our captain's name, And Christ our captain's name,» (system 2, «Fine.» after the first «name,»); under it, in italics, the line for the D. S.: «D. S.—Our ves-sel is the church of God,» / «And Christ our captain's name.». Stanza 1 is written below as sung the first time (with its last line repeated, as printed), then the italic D. S. lines; «ves - sel», «sail·ing», «De - clare» are written as whole words. Stanzas 2–5 follow as text (stanza 2 in the left column under the music, 3–5 in the right column), then «Anon.» in italics. The stanza numbers 2–5 are printed without a full stop (numbered «2.»–«5.» here like stanza 1). Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print. The print sets a thin space before «?», «;» («in ?», «overwhelm ?», «fear ;», «word ;», «hope ;», «clear ;»); it is closed up here; quotes and apostrophes are written straight («captain's», «Father's», «We're», «"Worthy's the Lamb … slain."»). Hand-made pen underlines in stanzas 2 and 3 and a pencil note beside the title are marks of the exemplar, not print (see uncertainties.md). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.