Lyrics

1. Ship of death, yacht of demise
the plowman of tears
was lowered to waves
with pride, perhaps.

2. Titanic, this proud name
bigger is its splendor,
biggest of sea’s plowers,
it is the king of ships.

3. With glad minds, with hooray yells
all people welcome,
the art of human genius,
with amazement watched.

4. Thick smoke clouds covered
the harbor of Southampton,
when it set off
to America’s journey.

5. Songs were sung, and music echoed,
wine was flowing like a river,
the young danced, the old drank,
in the ship’s jolly halls.

6. It was sparkling brightly
in the light of the evening sun,
the giant as it left
the sun behind the land.

7. In the moving city,
in the paradise of people,
everyone sat with no worry
trusting the human might.

8. Captain Smith he peacefully
steered the ship with its load,
he had two thousand people
to take over the water.

9. Manager Ismay sat
in his saloon, thinking:
“A victory in the contest we
must have, I swear!”

10. He rushed to meet the captain,
said: “Full steam ahead,
do not fear a record,
full steam ahead!”

11. “Slow down, for God’s sake”,
the telegraph yells,
“we have gotten a wire,
telling: ices are loose.”

12. The machines thumped like eagle,
Titanic slit the water;
waves were splashing, surges were raging,
Ismay laughed to himself.

13. Ismay laughed: “Childish
is this talk, this ship,
full ahead, it will last,
this ship is the Titanic!”

(Note: two verses are missing from the archive at this point.)

14. The horns are playing elegies,
the captain yells goodbyes;
the mass of people shaking, crying,
the Titanic sinks to the bottom.

15. Silent death now covers
the sea with feeling of grief.
From here and there one can still hear
a silent wail.

16. Drifted in waves
the boats of the shipwrecks.
The Charpathia finally arrives
to give its help.

17. One thousand five hundred drowned
The Charpathia got six hundred.
To the sea’s cold bosoms slept
the rich, the poor, everyone.

18. The ship of death, the yacht of demise
Titanic really was;
biggest, greatest of all,
now is in the sea’s bottom.

19. The orphan child cries his/her father,
the wife misses her husband,
the brother his brother, sister,
the mother, father their child.

20. But the silent does not answer,
the mouths of the dead do not speak;
the father does not listen to his child,
the wailing of wives.

21. The sea does not give its victims,
there they will always sleep
until then, when it is time
for the morning of the blessed.

Source: Asplund 1994, pp. 770-771.
Collector: Ilkka Kaakinen
Year: 1936.