And Nancy King posted the song, with personal commentary, in 2010:


Thread #126659   Message #3016394

Posted By: Nancy King

26-Oct-10 - 09:58 PM

Thread Name: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs

Subject: Lyr Add: WISCASSET SCHOONERS

OK, here goes. The schooners of the song, "Hesper" and "Luther Little," were beached in Wiscasset, Maine, in 1932, and remained there, an unlikely tourist attraction, until the debris from the disintigrating hulks became a hazard to navigation. They were finally demolished in 1998. I remember sneaking aboard them in the early 1960s with Lois and some other friends -- strictly forbidden, but fascinating and fun. Lois wrote the song in 1985. Gordon sings a couple of words slightly differently on the "Schooners" CD, but this is the way the lyrics are printed in the accompanying booklet:


WISCASSET SCHOONERS
(Lois Lyman)

Do you remember riding home before a dying summer breeze,
Your topsails gleaming golden, setting sun among the trees,
And the osprey wheeling slowly through the shadows by the shore,
Where the towering cliffs of granite plunge ten fathoms deep or more,
And the eddies swirl and flow down below.

You were solid-built of Douglas fir and oak and yellow pine,
Two hundred feet, sailed by a crew that numbered only nine,
Hauling lumber through your timberports, and dyewood from the south
Running home from Norfolk bringing coal to heat the north
And whatever they could stow down below.

But the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow
And the tides ebb and flow down below.

You served them well for fifteen years, your canvas all unfurled
When New England sailing ships were found in ports around the world,
But spars gave way to smokestacks, clouds of white to black and grey,
There was nothing left for you to do but waste your time away,
And the rot was spreading slow down below.

And the winter...

From Wiscasset to the China Lakes the Narrow Gauge did run,
To push it northward to Quebec was old Frank Winter's plan--
And schooners were to bring his cargoes in to meet the train,
When he found you idle on the dock, he brought you down to Maine
Where the tides ebb and flow down below.

You know he tried the best he could, but he just couldn't make it pay
So he ran you both aground, and turned around and walked away;
You've been waiting here for fifty years, but no one set you free,
Now you're broken down and dying, lying open to the sea,
And the tides ebb and flow down below.

And the winter...

The people come to stare at you with wonder in their eyes
For times have changed since men knew how to work a ship your size.
The seas you sailed are running black; in time we'll know our loss--
It's too late now for you, and is it too late now for us?
Can you teach us what you know before you go?

For the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow
And the tides ebb and flow down below. (twice)