Subject: ADD Franklin's Crew (from Colcord)
From:
Joe Offer
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 06:25 PM
Here's the version from page 158 Joanna Colcord's Songs of American Sailormen (published in 1938 by Bramhall House). The book was originally published by Norton in 1924 as Roll and Go, Songs of American Sailormen. A message above says "Franklin's Crew" is not found in Colcord's 1924 book, and I didn't find it in that edition, either.
FRANKLIN'S CREW
While homeward bound across the deep,
Snug in my hammock I fell asleep.
I dreamt these lines, which I think are true,
Concerning Franklin and his brave crew.
And as we neared old England’s shore
I saw a lady in deep deplore,
She wept aloud and seemed to say,
Alas, my Franklin is long away.
It’s a long time now since those ships of fame
Bore my long–lost husband across the main,
And a hundred seamen with courage stout
To find the Northwestern passage out.
To seek a passage by the North Pole
Where storms do rage and wild waters roll,
‘Tis more than mortal men can do,
With heart undaunted and courage true.
They sailed east and they sailed west,
Along Greenland’s coast which they knew the best,
Against hardships and dangers they vainly strove,
Against mountains of ice their ships were drove.
Oh, Captain Osborne of Scarbury town,
Granville and Perry of great renown,
And Captain Ross and many more
Have since been cruising on the Arctic shore.
In Baffin’s Bay where the right whale blows
The fate of Franklin no one knows,
Which causes many to weep and mourn
While praying for their safe return.
Notes (from Colcord): In 1845, Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer, sailed from England with 219 [actually 129] men in the ships Erebus and Terror to attempt to discover the Northwest Passage. The party disappeared, and although many expeditions were sent out in search of them, their fate was not learned until fourteen years later. Lady Franklin had been indefatigable in her efforts, and in 1859 an expedition which she had organized and sent out under Captain McClintock was successful in finding the cairn in which the Franklin expedition had left an account of the loss of the two ships in the ice, and their attempts to reach safety overland. The last entry was made in April, 1848; an Eskimo woman told Captain McClintock that after that “the men fell down and died as they walked.”
The relief expeditions sent out both from England and America greatly extended knowledge of the Arctic, and kept alive the interest and concern of the civilized world in the fate of Franklin and his men. Naturally, it be-came a subject for the ballad-makers. It is possible to fix with considerable accuracy the dates between which the following version must have been composed; it was after Captain Osborne sailed for the Arctic in 1852, and before Captain McClintock’s discovery in 1859.
Recording by Eilis Kennedy: https://eiliskennedy.bandcamp.com/track/franklins-crew
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