I was drift­ing away on life’s pi­ti­less sea,
And the ang­ry waves threat­ened my ru­in to be,
When away at my side, there I dim­ly des­cried,
A state­ly old ves­sel, and loud­ly I cried:
Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!
And loud­ly I cried: Ship ahoy!

’Twas the old ship of Zi­on, thus sail­ing along,
All aboard her seemed joy­ous,
I heard their sweet song;
And the cap­tain’s kind ear, ev­er rea­dy to hear,
Caught my wail of dis­tress, as I cried out in fear:
Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!
As I cried out in fear: Ship ahoy!

The good cap­tain com­mand­ed a boat to be low’red,
And with ten­der com­pas­sion He took me on board;
And I’m hap­py today, all my sins washed away
In the blood of my Sav­ior, and now I can say:
Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!
From my soul I can say: Bless the Lord!

O soul, sink­ing down ’neath sin’s mer­ci­less wave,
The strong arm of our cap­tain is migh­ty to save;
Then trust Him to­day, no longer de­lay,
Board the old ship of Zi­on, and shout on your way:
Je­sus saves! Je­sus saves!
Shout and sing on your way: Je­sus saves!