When our ships have crossed the ocean,
And have been all round the world,
When they safe­ly gain the har­bor,
And their sails again are furled;
We re­joice to see them en­ter,
And to know the an­chor’s cast,
Raising joy­ful shouts of wel­come,
For our ships are home at last.

Refrain

Oh, what sing­ing, oh, what shout­ing,
When our ships come sail­ing home;
They have stood the migh­ty tem­pests,
They have crossed the ocean’s foam;
They have passed o’er stor­my bil­lows,
But they now have gained the shore;
The an­chor’s cast, they’re home at last,
The voy­age is safe­ly o’er.

But if there is such re­joic­ing
To see ves­sels here get home,
When we know that in a lit­tle
While these ships again will roam;
Oh, what must it be in Hea­ven
When a soul comes sail­ing in,
To go out no more for­ev­er,
Sailing on the sea of sin?

Refrain

O, me­thinks I hear the an­gels shout,
Here comes an earth­ly bark;
She has found her way to Hea­ven,
Tho’ the way was rough and dark;
But she had a star to guide her,
Called the bright and morn­ing star;
It has guid­ed mill­ions ov­er
From that dist­ant land afar.

Refrain

So with Je­sus as our cap­tain
We ex­pect to gain that shore;
We ex­pect to cast our an­chor there,
And stay for­ev­er­more;
And we know the an­gels will be there
To greet us when we come;
They will join in songs of rap­ture,
Welcome home, oh, wel­come home.

Refrain