I have been singing the song this week to fit in with commemorating the great East Coast flood of 1953(50 yrs this weekend)in which several hundred people lost their lives in Lincolshire and Norfolk. Yes, I know that it isn't about the same event but the chorus "three score score and ten boys and men were lost from Grimsby town" kind of fits.

My query is that, although I have heard recorded versions by John Connolly, The Watersons and The Clancys and have seen several printed versions (including the one in the DT), where does the song come from? Do we know who wrote it and what was the event that prompted it?

Roger