FAREWELL TO THE CLAN LINE
Ron Baxter. Tune: Ross Campbell

When I think on the years that I spent a-sailing,
Thoughts of past times they drift back to me;
The dangers, the joys, the mayhem, the boredom,
The tears and the laughter, the sky and the sea.

CHORUS: But these times are long gone and so are the vessels;
The House Flag's been lowered for the very last time.
It's "Farewell" to Hector's and Union Castle,
To King and Bowater's and to the Clan Line.

For I've seen the sun rise o'er Mauritius in glory,
The Southern Cross 'gainst a black velvet sky;
I have sailed under the Mighty Hunter,
Seen golden sunsets off Ascension's Isle.

I've drifted for days with engine breakdowns,
Was nearly washed over in a gale in Biscay;
But I've roared, sung and drunk in mansions and shanties,
And once I was rolled in a dive in Marseilles,

I've tramped with crude oil from the Black Sea to the Baltic,
Run shiploads of apples from Tasmania's strand;
Oft to the Cape with general cargo,
Or newsprint for Charleston from Newfoundland.

I've seen sperm whale sounding, the albatross soaring,
Both the Auroras and Saint Elmo's fire;
The sun and moon's halos, flying fish gliding,
And I have heard dolphins sing like a choir.

"Farewell To The Clan Line" is the final song in a programme of the same name put together by RED DUSTER (Ross Campbell and Ron Baxter). We formed "Red Duster" in 1995 to bring the songs and stories of the British Merchant and Fishing Fleets to a wider audience.

"Farewell to the Clan Line" presents images in song, story and verse of what life was like on the ships of the British Merchant Fleet in the years just before its terminal decline, drawing on Ron's own experiences at sea with the Clan Line, songs he collected then and others he composed himself. A number of songs by contemporary song-writers fill out the picture.

CD available from the Chantey Cabin
Ross Campbell 18 August 2007