Nick ...have not managed to see you since I found this poem and adapted it for singing. It is based on a true story of an event that happened in 1901.

THE RUNSWICK WOMEN

The little cliff-side village in sleepy stillness lay
When the fishing boats, at daybreak, set sail from Runswick Bay
And many a stalwart fisherman, with ne'er a thought for fear
Prayed "Grant us Lord, a safe return to wife and children dear!"

CHORUS
"God keep our sons and husbands
And bring them safely home !"
That was the prayer the Runswick women
Sent o'er the ocean foam

But soon the wind was rising, the sky was overcast
The heavy clouds hung dark and low, the rain fell thick and fast
And from the cottage windows throughout the weary day
The women looked , with anxious eyes, out on the stormy bay

Then as the shades of evening fell o'er the raging foam
They saw, far out across the sea, the boats returning home
The men were striving vainly gainst angry wind and wave
While the women watched in anguish all powerless to save

"Can we do nought to save them ?" Rang out in accents wild
Must they be lost in sight of home, In sight of wife and child?
We must launch the lifeboat and save our husbands lives
Hands may be weak but hearts are strong for we are sailors wives

Bravely those women laboured , the fishermen to save
They dragged the lifeboat to the beach and launched it on the wave
The women and the young boys rowed through the tempest's roar
And old men mustered all their strength as they bent to the oar

Regardless of the perils that little vessel braved
At length the fishing boats were reached and every man was saved
All honour to those women - true heroines were they
The fisherwives who launched the boat that night at Runswick Bay