Lyr Add: The Lady Maria (Dave Robinson)

Subject: THE LADY MARIA
From: GUEST,Michael in Swansea
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 07:25 AM

THE LADY MARIA
(Dave Robinson)

The Maria she started her life in Badalona
In the great days of sail in fifty eight
In a hundred and thirty years and seven
In her favourite bay she met her sad fate

Chorus: The Maria Asumpta a grand old lady
The sea has now claimed her and sad was the day
This lady of Spain had sailed in from Swansea
At Rumps Point she foundered in old Padstow Bay

Cargo she carried fron Buenos Aries to Cuba
Barcelona to Palma, Oran and Tangier
She was passed on from owner to owner
In the year nineteen eighty her end it seemed near

Chorus:

The beautiful brig was to have been a film star
Alas for The Maria it proved not to be
She was left lying in the port of Malaga
To be burnt and her ashes cast out on the sea

Chorus:

The Maria was rescued and restored in her finery
To gracefully sail on the oceans again
With her square rigged sail white on the water
Once again proud was this lady of Spain

Chorus:

On every quay-side her admirers would flock
To gaze on the grand old lady with awe
Shantymen sang on her scrubbed timbered decks
Songs she may have heard in the years gone before

Chorus:

Now on the rocks between Rumps Point and Pentire
The Lady Maria has a watery grave
No more will she grace the ports that embraced her
They can only remember the pleasure she gave

Chorus:

Copyright Dave Robinson 1995

Recorded by Baggyrinkle on audio cassette tape "A Pound and a Pint"
^^

Notes: The Maria Asumpta was the oldest square rigger still sailing. Wrecked off the Cornish coast Tuesday 30 May 1995 with the loss of three lives. The owner and skipper, Mark Litchfield, an ex Royal Navy Lieutenant, received 18 months jail for the manslaughter of Anne Taylor (51), John Shannon (30) and Emily MacFarlane (19)
It's worth noting that Mark Litchfield was the owner and skipper of the "Marques" which went down in 1984 with the loss of 19 lives.
MR

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 03:42 PM

Thank you "GUEST" for putting "The Lady Maria" on to the MUDCAT Cafe list.

Baggyrinkle (Swansea Shantymen)have recently added the song "Pull for the Shore" to their repertoire.
There's a difference of opinion on the words in the first verse.

Can anyone out there settle the argument?

Text:
Light in the darkness sailor, day is at hand
See o'er the foaming billows fair raises land.
Drear was the voyage sailor, now almost o'er.
Safe within the lifeboat sailor, pull for the shore.

Some sources refer to the second line as:

See o'er the foaming billows fair haven land?

Subject: Lyr req: Pull for the Shore
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 08:51 AM

Has nobody found an answer for this yet?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: MMario
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 08:54 AM

cyber hymnal says "fair haven's land"

Words & Music: Philip P. Bliss, 'Sunshine for Sunday Schools', 1873

---

"Pull for the Shore" thread is here (click)

Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 12:27 PM

I have amended the last two verses to include the sad loss of three of the Maria's crew.

But now on the rocks between Rump's Point and Pentire,
The Lady Maria has a watery grave.
John Shannon, Anne Taylor and Emily MacFarlane
Were lost with The Lady, dashed by the cruel waves.

No more will she grace the ports that embraced her,
No more will she sail all on the wild sea.
But The Lady Maria will ne'er be forgotten
By those sailed on her and landsmen like me.

Dave Robinson.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 01:16 PM

It's a great song, Dave. What's the air?
I wondered if you could post a full version of the lyrics in this thread, so we can be sure we have the lyrics correct in the Digital Tradition (click). Is that really "Badalona" in the first line?
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 01:52 PM

See Badalona
Click on the little fish to enter this website. Nothing to do with the song but an interesting website for this important old Catalan town near the port of Barcelona.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 01:53 PM

www.museubdn.es/
Sorry, got to run.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA (Dave Robinson)
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 02:27 PM

Joe,
According to the records The Maria Asumpta was constructed on a sandy Mediterranean beach at Badalona near Barcelona by Nicolas Pica for Jose Isern of Masnou. She was fitted out in Barcelona and sailed for Buenos Aries soon after with a crew of twelve. She was originally named Maria Asunta (the spelling was later changed to Asumpta).

---

So here is the full version of the song:

THE LADY MARIA
(Dave Robinson)

The Maria started her life in Badalona
In the great days of sail in '58.
In a hundred and thirty years and seven,
In her favourite bay, she met her sad fate.

Chorus:-
The Maria Asumpta, a grand old lady.
The sea has now claimed her and sad was the day.
This lady of Spain had sailed in from Swansea,
At Rump's Point she foundered in old Padstow Bay.

Cargo she carried from Buenos Aries to Cuba,
Barcelona to Palma, Oran and Tangier,
And she was passed on from owner to owner.
In the year 1980, her end it seemed near.

The beautiful brig was to be a film star,
But alas for the Maria, it proved not to be
And she was left lying in the port of Malaga,
To be burnt and her ashes cast out on the sea.

But the lady was rescued and restored in her finery
To gracefully sail on the oceans again.
With her square-rigged sails, white on the water,
Once again proud was this lady of Spain.

On every quayside her admirers would flock,
To gaze on the grand old lady with awe.
Shantymen sang on her scrubbed timbered decks,
Songs she may have heard in the years gone before.

But now on the rocks, between Rump's Point and Pentire
The Lady Maria has a watery grave.
Anne Taylor, John Shannon and Emily MacFarlane
Were lost with The Lady, dashed by the cruel waves.

No more will she grace the ports that embraced her.
No more will she sail all on the wild sea.
But the Lady Maria will ne'er be forgotten
By those who sailed with her and landsmen like me.

There might be one or two differences from the original. But I have included the "first impression" along with the amendment to the last two verses.

The tune is self composed and if you can tell me how to post it on the thread, I will do so.

Many thaks for your interest in this song.

Dave R.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 02:44 PM

The Maria Asunta had other names as well; Pepita and Ciudad de Inca.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 03:30 PM

Indeed she did!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 03:23 AM

A St.Agnes fisherman (Steve Bunt) salvaged some wreckage from her, including a lifebouy bearing her name.
It can be seen at The Driftwood Spars, St.Agnes (Cornwall).
Ne'er be forgotten,
Keith.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 06:19 AM

One of the square-rigged sails from The Maria was salvaged by Phillip Chatfield (one of the crew) It was used as a fitting backdrop on the concert stage at the Swansea Maritime Festival a year or two after the tragedy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 05:27 PM

Dave Robinson (Skipper Jack) e-mailed me the tune for this song. Thanks, Dave.
-Joe Offer-

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: Good run
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 12:04 PM

Hallo I lived in the harbour where the Maria Asumpta then called Ciudad de Inca and the Bark Marques were situated and rigged between 1981 and 1982 igot friend there with some people wo workeked on the boat i lost view of all of them now i am searching for a scottisch guy named Andy Buchanan, hope he did not sink with the ship Marques in 1984

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 06:41 PM

Although he wasn't skippering the Marques when she sank!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Lady Maria (Dave Robinson)
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 03:18 AM

I sailed on her as a schoolboy when she was the Inca. 2 weeks swinging from her ropes from Fishguard up to Oban. We "raced" the Marques (which also sank under Lichfiled).Same year as the Fastnet yacht disaster as I remember.
Just afterward, Lichfield managed to crash the Marques & Inca together

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Lady Maria (Dave Robinson)
From: GUEST,Lee
Date: 16 Jan 18 - 03:31 PM

From Deck Boy to Master Mariner... one of my ambitions was to sail on a Square rigger.

I met Capt Lichfield in Penzance and secured a sailing as I could splice wire. I sailed on her twice before she sank, both passages on the south coast of UK.

I met some lovely people and learned to be a foretopman. A memory I will never forget: We all hid our duty free beer, submerged in the bilges to avoid the customs. It wasn't until the coast was clear and whilst drinking the beer somebody pointed out that the vessel had also been a slave ship and thoughts of what had been in those bilges over the years quickly came to all of our minds.

We all awoke with a hangover of course......