"Pretty Polly", "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" is a traditional folk song found both in the British Isles and in the Appalachian region of North America.

The song is a murder ballad, telling of a young woman lured into the forest where she is killed and buried in a shallow grave. Many variants of the story have the villain as a ship's carpenter who promises to marry Polly but murders her when she becomes pregnant. When he goes back to sea, he is haunted by her ghost, confesses to the murder, goes mad and dies.

Mr. Hilliard Smith Aug. 10, 1910 Kentucky
"O Polly, O Polly, we have no time for to stand. He drew his revolver all out in his hand. He shot her through the heart which caused the blood to flow, And into her grave her fair body he did throw. He threw her in the grave, straightway he did run, Left no one to weep but some small birds to mourn."