I don't think I've seen this in print. I learned it a number of years ago from a tape that Dillon had distributed for a play about Martha's Vineyard, MA that he was producing.

It's not likely that I have the words 100% correct, but it's the way I sing it and remember it. The tape is packed away in some box out in the garage from moving recently. I hope this helps for now. Maybe Dillon will post the correct version.

I remember Dillon saying that the "Humane Society" was the name that the lifesaving associations along the shores of New England were organized under. He also said that the Wampanoag (I think) Indians on Martha's Vinyard were the only lifesaving volunteers on the Island at that time. I remember he said that the demise of the ship "The City of Columbus" happened around 1900. I think I remember him saying that generally the relationship between the islanders and the Indians was good, but at this particular time in history there were some problems. (I hope Dillon writes and straightens this whole thing out.)

And, I love this song.



The Humane Society

        Words and music by Dillon Bustin


Come, listen to the news
Of the City of Columbus and her pleasure cruise
To Florida from Boston sailed
Smack into a winter's gale
With freezing rain and frozen hail

CHO: 'Tis true.

And, at the Gay Head light,
The keeper there awoke to face a fearsome sight
On Devil's Bridge she'd run aground
The breakers playing lost and found
With the drowning and the drowned.

'Tis true.

And he sent out a plea,
To the worthy men of the Humane Society,
The call went out both loud and clear
To us, lifesaving volunteers.
And I could see my duty clear.

'Tis true.

My boots left on the ice,
The socks my mother knitted me they would suffice
Don't need my boots to weigh me down
If it is my day to drown
My brother there could use the pair.

'Tis true.

Six men to a boat,
The call to pull away it came as from one throat
As if one hand did time the oars
Our backs turned to the ocean's roar,
The surf did throw us back once more

'Tis true.

Our steersman gave a shout:
Each able bodied man to leap right out
Heave the boat along the side
Force her though the surging tide.
Soaked to the skin, we launched her in

'Tis true.

And froze up to our necks,
We rowed for love of life out to that sinking wreck
Some were lashed onto the mast,
Some in the rigging holding fast,
Praying not to be the last.

'Tis true.

And, how to understand
These gentlemen who do not shake an Indian's hand?
To meet on any other day
Would not have one word to say
Were reaching out as they did pray.

'Tis true.

Some twenty-nine we saved
One hundred three did perish beneath the waves
The bloated bodies of the dead
Washed on the beaches of Gay Head
Like stranded whales to no avail.

'Tis true.

Now, we're heroic men,
With medals and with money for our courage then
The centuries most tragic wreck
The rescued ones do not suspect,
We do it for our self respect.

'Tis true.