Lyrics

Ye daring sons of Newfoundland come listen unto me
And I’ll unfold what I’ve never been told of the dangers of the sea
Concerning our poor seamen who’ve sailed a raging main
And left behind all errant? kind never to return again.

Of a brave and fearless mariner I’m going to relate
Of such a hardy seaman and how he met his fate
Now let me tell to you my friend of a mournful tragedy
That took the toll of five dear souls and the schooner Huberry.

She was a ship of sixty ton and trading on our shore
And now that she have vanished and will be seen no more
As for Captain Seward with me you will agree
He was a Newfoundlander but his home was on the sea

He was a brave and daring man and lived to did he fare
Out in his little vessel, so laid up in the year
And sailing round our stormy shore and with the least of dread
Like all such Newfoundlanders do earn their daily bread.

He left St. John’s for Hare Bay in the schooner Huberry
And little did he ever think it would end in tragedy
Of the northeast coast of Newfoundland beneath the wintery sky
Captain Seward and his little crew gave up their lives to die.

Out on the ocean bred, out on the raging foam
The seagull sings their little songs for those who won’t come home
Now to ye people of New Ferlican? to ye I say alone
They’re anchored on that heav’nly shore where troubles there are none.

It is a sad ?? it happens every year
A sea takes two the symmetry the lives of one must err
They will be missed throughout our land in summer, spring, and fall
And how they take a castaway, it’s a mystery to us all.

No more to wander on a stormy deep expecting them to calm
They got their call both one and all for God have called them home.

Transcribed by Heather Sparling from Jim Payne’s Captains and Ships (see iTunes). I also listened to MUNFLA C7841 (Dorman Ralph, recorded by Kenneth Goldstein, Aug 13, 1981, St. John’s). Jim Payne’s version is exactly the same, even using the same accordion accompaniment as in the Ralph recording.