/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=170729 THE KINGSTOWN DISASTER
by Johnny McEvoy

recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4S96bsaiQ8

It was Christmas Eve in eighteen ninety-five
The biggest storm in years was blowing wild
Never had we seen it’s like before
As we drifted helpless towards the Kingstown shore

The wind was blowing like a wild banshee
Our ship was tossed upon the raging sea

Each man on board believed it was the end
We thought we’d never see our homes again
Suddenly there came a mighty sound
Our sails in shreds as they came tumbling down

How nobody died I’ll never know
As we ran aground upon the rocks below
We prayed to God to see us through the night
We had many hours to go before day-light

When suddenly we heard somebody call
“Stand fast me boys we’ll save you one and all

With burning eyes, we stared into the night
I must admit it was a wonderous sight
The Kingstown lifeboat drawing up abeam
Our eyes could not believe the sight we’d seen

Hold tight me boys we’ll throw to you a line
To tell the truth we haven’t got much time
The tide is turning fast before our eyes
We’ve got to get you off before sunrise

Then through the night there came a mighty roar
A towering wave of twenty feet or more
Came crashing down upon the men below
Such fear and terror you could never know

Splintered timbers scattered all around
Of those brave men there wasn’t sight nor sound
Capsized and smashed into a million parts
tnough to break a hardened sailor’s heart

Alex Williams was the cockswain’s name
His likes I know we’ll never see again
Fifteen men and boys were lost that night
Gone to their reward before daylight

Saint Stephen’s day they laid them in their grave
Wives and mothers prayed their souls to save
And we stood by just glad to be alive
That Christmas time in eighteen ninety-five.