I'm looking for the lyrics (and, preferably, more information about) a
song I learned as a rowing song.  The only lyrics I remember are "the
last of Barret's Privateers" and a mention of Halifax.

Here you will find the lyrics to "Barrett's Privateers":

Darknyss: Barrett's Privateers
http://darknyss.topcities.com/DS/Links/barretts.html

You can listen to a rowdy clip from the song here, as performed by the
Celtic folk group 3 Pints Gone:

3 Pints Gone: Barrett's Privateers
http://www.3pintsgone.com/sounds/barretts-x.mp3

Although it sounds like an authentic old sea chanty, "Barrett's
Privateers" was written by the late Stan Rogers, a Canadian singer and
songwriter who is greatly missed. Stan first recorded "Barrett's
Privateers" in 1977, on an album entitled "Fogarty's Cove."

Here are two excellent pages of notes on the song and its roots in
Canadian history:

Jack Tar Homepage: Is the Stan Rogers song "Barrett's Privateers"
true?
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~jacktar/barretts.html

Fogarty's Cove Music: Discussion of Barrett's Privateers
http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/bpessay.html

For more on the wonderful Stan Rogers, you can visit the Stan Rogers
site, which has discographies, biographies, audio and video clips, and
even a trivia test featuring Ben Stein:

Fogarty's Cove Music: Stan Rogers
http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/main.html

My Google search strategy:

"barrett's privateers"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22barrett%27s+privateers

I hope this information is useful. If any of the links do not
function, or if you need further assistance, please request
clarification before rating my answer.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

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Request for Answer Clarification by purpleanemone-ga on 02 Nov 2002 18:14 PST

This isn't really a request for clarification, I just couldn't find
the comment button, and I wanted to thank you for your excellent
answer.  I wanted to tip you, but I wasn't paying attention, and it
turns out that I can't tip after rating the answer, so I missed my
chance.

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 02 Nov 2002 18:31 PST

Thank you very much for the five-star rating! It was a pleasure to
answer a question about a song written by one of my favorite singers.

~Pink