I Saw A Ship A-sailing - A Poem for Young Kids

It's not really a nursery rhyme. My seven year old son learnt 'I Saw A Ship A-Sailing' just now, in his second standard. It goes like this:

I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing in the sea

And it was deeply laden with pretty things for me

There were comfits in the cabin

And apples in the hold

The sails were made of satin

And masts were made of gold.

The four and twenty sailors

That stood above 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."

The version of the poem that his school text-book has is a little different from the version that I found on the net. It's author is anonymous and it's part of the Mother Goose rhymes.

Mother Goose? Who was that? Let's keep it for another day :)