Lyr. Add: THE FOUNDERING OF THE ASIA

Loud roared the dreadful thunder,
And stormy was the day,
When the Asia left the harbor
To cross the Georgian Bay.

One hundred souls she had on board,
Likewise a costly store,
But on her trip this gallant ship
She sank to rise no more.

There were three and thirty shanty boys,
All hearty, strong and brave,
All bound for Byng Inlet,
But they found a watery grave.

The men cried "Save the Captain!"
As the waters round them raged,
"Oh, no," cried he, "ne'er think of me,
'Til all on board are saved."

The cabin boy was first to die,
So young, so brave, so true.
His parents weep while his body sleeps
In Georgian's watery grave.

I'll never forget MacDougall,
Which was the purser's name,
When immortalized, the deeds he did
Were handed down to fame.

Likewise young Willie Christie and
His newly wedded bride
Were bound for Manitoulin,
Where their parents did reside.

"Oh, had we only left the boat
Last night on Owen Sound,
Oh, Willie dear, why came we here,
To in these waters drown?"

"Mama will say, why such delay?
But oh, she must excuse,
'Twill make her sad, likewise my dad,
When they hear the dreadful news."

Their earthly cries would rend the skies,
Which awful must have been,
For the storm that day on Georgian Bay,
Was awful to be seen.

Of all the souls she had on board,
Two only are alive;
Miss Morrison and Tinkiss,
Are all that did survive.

Miss Morrison and Tinkiss,
Their names I can't forget,
Were saved in a lifeboat,
Which four times did upset.

Around each family circle,
How sad the news to hear!
The foundering of the Asia,
Still sounding in each ear.

But in the deep they're fast asleep,
Their earthly trials are o'er.
Out on the beach, their bones do bleach,
Along the Georgian shore.

Georgian Bay is on Lake Huron, laced with islands and rocks.
The Canadian-built schooner "Asia" cleared Collingwood, Ontario, Sept. 12, 1882, with shanty boys and supplies for the start of the logging season at camps near the mouth of the French River. The vessel stopped at Owen Sound to take on additional passengers and freight bound for Manitoulin Island and Sault Ste. Marie. She was overloaded and men and horses were on the main deck. Captain J. N. Savage steered the boat toward the lee of Lonely Island when the storm came up, but the craft foundered before reaching shelter. The two teens mentioned in the song, Duncan Tinkiss and Christina Ann Morrison, washed ashore in a lifeboat, the only survivors.
Stanzas from several sources; seven through nine from Mrs. Robert Reid in 1934. She had sailed as cook on lumber steamers in the 1880s and 1890s.
Lyrics and story from "Windjammers, Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors," I. J. Walton and Joe Grimm, 2002, Wayne State University Press, pp. 208-209.