Lyrics

Come all ye men that work on land, for little you know
What we poor fishermen ensure when the stormy winds do blow;
‘Twas February in ‘fifty-nine, a date I remember well,
When some brave lads were called away out in that heavy gale.

We sailed away from Burgeo, it was on a Sunday morn,
The temperature reading zero as we ran before a storm.
Bill Vardy was our skipper’s name, The Triton was our boat;
Our crew was all from Newfoundland, there’s no better bunch afloat.

We fished around those Grand Banks five or six days or more,
When a heavy storm it did arise as we headed for the shore.
It wasn’t very long afterwards the news we all did know,
A sea struck the Cape Dolphin and she was sinking slow.

‘Fore ten on Monday morning we received a distress shout,
Coming from The Blue Wave saying that she was hove out;
We tried to run back to her but nothing would she stand.
We brought her to the wind again and we shaped her for the land.

Our captain then gave orders the ice for to beat off.
We beat a load down on her deck, and we beat it from aloft.
We kept beating away the ice, our hearts were filled with fear;
Our captain then gave orders again our lifeboats to keep clear.

Then aeroplanes were soon despatched to search the ocean ’round,
But no sign of their missing boat was anywhere to be found.
A gale of wind was blowing then, while the seas rose mountains high;
The search it was abandoned, and the planes did homeward fly.

To you people of Grand Bank and Fortune I send my deepest sympathy;
Put your trust in God above while toiling on the sea.
Don’t fret nor mourn for those brave lads that have been called away;
I know you’ll meet in heaven above upon that judgment day.

Now to conclude and finish, I think I have done well.
My name and my birthplace I’m going for to tell;
Grey River is my native home, Jack Lushman is my name
And I sailed with Captain Vardy from Burgeo, Newfoundland.

Source: Lehr, Genevieve, and Anita Best. 1985. Come and I will Sing You: A Newfoundland Songbook. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, pp 17-18.