Just for openers, Do any of you know who Mary Ellen Carter was? I know of one. Donna (Ma Fazoo) who has always been interested in the supernatural, Looked up from the book she was reading and said, "Mary Ellen Carter wrote a biography of Edgar Cayce, look!" She handed me the book and, sure enough it was Edgar Cayce's biography and it was written by Mary Ellen Carter. Do any of you know if this is the Mary Ellen Carter for whom the boat was named?

second subject: I usually don't listen to other singer's records unless I'm learning a song ,
(Yeah! Yeah!, who does he think he is? Right?)
Sometimes I'll listen to old timers, like Dave Macon, Jimmy Rogers or Leadbelly when I'm driving. But, I very very seldom listen to new performers. However, I used to listen to Stan Rogers all the time. I'll tell you how god I think he was. Some of the lyrics on Stan's records have glaring inaccuracies (I don't care if I did spell it wrong) in Nautical stuff. For instance, In Rolling Down to Old Maui, A taught ship does not have a sprung mast. It is possible for a tight ship (one that doesn't leak too much) to have things wrong with it's rigging but a TAUGHT ship's rigging, masts spars.\, etc are in perfect working order. The term derives from "Taught standing rigging" the Shrouds and stays are "Taught". As far as I know there's no such thing as "Studdingsail Bones" OStu'n's'l Bones) There are Studdingsil booms, of course. And, there are no chains in the "Mizzen Chains" for the Captain of the Nightingale (fine man that he was) to become entangled in. The mIZZEN "cHAINS" are the "Chain plates" , Heavy strips of metal tha are bolted to the hull and to which the standing rigging is anchored. The term, "Chain Plates" is a contraction of "Chain-wale plates". The Chain wale is a measurement on the ships plans. Now here's what I'm getting at. If any other writer or singer makes mistakes such as these, I stop listening to him and/or reading his stuff. (Stan Hughill, for instance) STAN ROGERS, HOWEVER, WAS SUCH A GOOD POET AND SINGER, THAT I COMPLETELY IGNORE ANY TECHNICAL FAULTS IN HIS STUFF. wHEN I LISTEN TO HIS RECORDS, HIS ARTISTRY FAR OUTWEIGHS ANY OTHER CONSIDERATION. aND, WHEN i sing his stuff, I simply make a change here and there, Studdingsail Booms for instance (I don't sing the verse about the sprung mast anyway.) and the Mizzen Chains becomes the "Chain locker". So There. I bet you thaught I was going to say something nasty about Stan. Not a chance. He was an inspiring man, and when I heard he was dead, I too cried like a baby. I was helping with the maintenance at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Newport, buffing the kitchen floor, I turned off the buffer, went into the Church and asked God what the hell he thought he was doing. Donna made the comment that she thought God might be a rookie. Of course I didn't get an immediate answer./ But, maybe I did,because, upon reflection later that evening, it occurred to me that maybe the way in which he died, his heroism, put a lot more weight to, "The House of Orange".
In stead of all these "Memorials" I think that we folk singers should find a way to point out to Her Majesty Queen Elizebeth, that under wartime conditions, had Stan been in the military, there almost certainly would have been some consideration for awarding him the VC, or, in my country the Congressional Medal of Honor., and that maybe he should get some official recognition from the Crown.
As for that very powerfull song, "The House of Orange" I sing it on the average of once a week.
My friend and mentor, Barclay Warburton, who taught me almost everything I know about sailing, died of brain cancer a few years back. The last song I ever got to sing for him was, "Mary Ellen Carter".
Did You know that the SS "City of Midland" (The last watch) was purchased before it could be cut up, completely restored and is back in service?