Here's yet another version or two:

printed in "Maritime Folk Songs" by Helen Creighton (Ryerson Press 1961)

A. Fragment

We're homeward bound
Long in my hammock I fell asleep
I had a dream which I thought was true
Concerning Franklin and his ship's crew.

As we drew near to old England's shore
I overheard a fair maid comply,
She wept out loudly and seemed to say,
"Oh I have lost Franklin who's far away"

"But yet they are but one ship of fame
Which bore my Franklin across the main,
Five hundred seamen with courage stout,
To find the nor'western passage out."

To find a passage by the North Pole
Where lightning flashed and thunder rolled,
Through mountains of ice bothy her ships were

B.
A seaman bold that has withstood
While seas may roll on the briny flood,
That in those lines that I may gain (?)
Will put you in mind of a sailor's dream.

Homeward bound one night on the deep
Swang in my hammock I fell asleep,
I dreamt a dream, which I thought was true
Concerning Franklin and his bold crew.

As we drew near to old England's shore
I heard a lady that did implore,
She wept as loud and she seemed to say,
"Alas my Franklin is long away.

"Now since that time on ship of fame
It bears my husband across the main,
ONe hundred seamen that I may name
To find the north western passage through.

"To find a passage to the North Pole
Where seas to rage and the loud thunder roars,
"Tis more than any a man can do
With hearts undaunted and courage too.

"A sad foreboding, they gave me pain
Since my long-lost Franklin has crossed the main,
One hundred pounds I would freely give
To say on earth does my husband live."

Now since that time seven long years have passed
Through many's the keen and a bitter blast,
Threw over the graves where poor seamen fell,
Their dreadful sufferings no tongue can tell.

There's Captain Osborne of Scobrun town,
There's Crumswell Perry of fiery renown
There's Captain Osborne and as many's the more
That's long been searching the Arctic shore.

Now they sailed east and they sailed west,
To Greenland's coast to where they knew best
Through hardships and dangers they vain did strive
And on the mountains of Fife where their ships were drove.

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin nobody knows
There's manys the wife that is left to mourn
In grief and sorrow till they return.

rich r ^^