'Twas late '65 at the old Wallsea Yard
She was commissioned to haul the black tar
We built the Northumbria there on the bar
Roll Northumbria, roll

For when the Egyptians they closed the Red Sea
A call came on high from the powers that be
To build a royal monster right down to the key

Roll Northumbria roll, me boys
Roll Northumbria, roll

Carpathia
Vengeance
Celestial call
She was the tanker to outsize 'em all
From the banks of the Mersey
To the port of Hulal
Roll Northumbria, roll

And fair princess Anne threw a bottle of wine
And watched as the giant set down in the Tyne
What lay ahead could no mortal divine
Roll Northumbria roll, me boys
Roll Northumbria, roll

And it's one for the hot sun above
Two for the empire we love
And it's three for the fire that burns down below
Roll on Northumbria
Roll Northumbria, roll

So come all you good workman
Beware the command
It comes down on high from the desk of a man
Who's never held steel or torch in his hands
Roll Northumbria, roll

For atop a wild breaker the cracks in her frame
Spilled her black guts all across the wild main
She limped away through an ocean of flame
Roll Northumbria roll, me boys
Roll Northumbria, roll

And it's one for the hot sun above
Two for the empire we love
And it's three for the fire that burns down below
Roll on Northumbria
Roll Northumbria, roll