The text in Windjammers is the same as the one I posted from Lomax at the top of this thread - they're from the same source, the Ivan Walton Collection at the University of Michigan. The Windjammers was transcribed by Lee Murdock, and it's a bit different. I'll post it later.
-Joe Offer-
Here 'tis:Click to play
Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:Wreck of the Julie Plante, The
DESCRIPTION: "On wan dark night on de (Lak St. Clair)... de crew of de wood scow Julie Plante got scar' an' run below." The captain ties Rosie the cook to the mast, then jumps overboard. Both are drowned. The moral: "You can't get drown... so long you stay on shore"
AUTHOR: W. H. Drummond
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Rickaby; the poem was written before 1897)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. On Lak St. Pierre, the wood-scow "Julie Plante" encounters a fierce storm. They've lost their skiff, and the anchor won't hold; the captain ties the cook (Rosie) to the mast, takes the life-preserver, and jumps overboard, saying he'll drown for her sake. (?) Next morning the boat is wrecked and all are found dead. The singer warns listeners to marry and live on a farm; "You can't get drown on Lak St. Pierre/So long as you stay on shore."
KEYWORDS: ship disaster humorous death warning work storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont) US(MW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Rickaby 22, "On Lac San Pierre" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Beck 76, "The Wreck of the Julie Plante" (1 text plus two fragments of another)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 174-175, "The Wreck of the Julie Plante" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 62, "The Julie Plante" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4545
Notes: Yes, that's "Lak." Why jumping overboard will save the cook, I don't know. - PJS
Drummond's original poem (written, like most of his work, in "habitant" or French-Canadian English) was subtitled "A Legend of Lac St. Pierre" (Lake St. Peter). In oral tradition, however, this was often changed to the more familiar Lake St. Clair. - RBW
File: FJ174Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
A message above refers to a version in the Digital Tradition, but I couldn't find one there. Note that Q posted De Scow Jean La Plante in another thread. It's a different song, and may or may not be the same ship.