Lyr Add: Oregon Inlet

Subject: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Annie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 08:47 PM

Oregon Inlet
by Annie Williams 2001

Returning from Havana full of rum and sugar cane,
Our ship so full of cargo that to float seemed surely feign.
As we approached the harbor mouth the Captain called us round
"The inlet's full of sand my boys, we're sure to run aground".

We are sailing Oregon Inlet and we're waiting on the tide.
The Captain said it's full moon and we'll make it through this time.
But just in case we'll cast all of our rum kegs o'er the side.
"Good God!" we cried. "Not 20 kegs! We would rather die."

Please Captain Sir we've 8 long hours before the highest tide.
Indulge us now and hear our plan to raise the water line.
The deal was made and kegs were tapped, the men came streaming up
To draw the liquor into every tankard, bowl, and cup.

Fifteen kegs for 40 men, on this they solely dined.
Twenty minutes later not a drop left you could find.
Forty minutes later happy men began to sing.
Soon they all were dancing jigs and gaily frolicking.

A fight began. A free for all. Tempers hotly snapped.
In time things settled peacefully, and then all forty napped.
Ten minutes just before high tide, the Captain rang the bell.
"All hands on deck, be loyal boys and climb out on the rail."

Chorus
We are sailing Oregon Inlet and we're waiting on the tide.
The Captain said it's full moon and we'll make it through this time.
But just in case we'll cast all of our rum kegs o'er the side.
We are sailing Oregon Inlet and we're waiting on the tide.

The groggy boys obeyed and stood with toes out o'er the side.
Then 40 fountains of relief fell to the ocean wide.
Just prior she had drawn 5 feet, but now she drew just four.
The bottom of the ship would not scrape on the inlet floor.

Alternate ending:
The groggy boys obeyed and stood with toes out o'er the side.
Then 40 fountains of relief fell to the ocean wide.
Just prior she had drawn 8 feet, but now she drew just six.
Who would have thought a boat could be raised up by 40 dicks.

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 09:03 PM

Annie-

Intriguing song! I like its "spirit" but I question whether there were any historical runs from Havana to Oregon with rum and sugar. Now in Maine we did such runs all the time in the 19th century, sometimes as part of a three-corner trade with England. Can you clarify?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Janie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 09:52 PM

Hurray Annie, you got around to posting it! Can't wait to hear the new one. Love, Janie

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Janie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 10:40 PM

Charlie,

Oregon Inlet is an inlet at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I think between NagsHead and Hattarus Islands.

Janie

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Annie
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 05:32 AM

Charley,

My dad used to say, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

Annie

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 09:55 AM

Annie-

Not to worry too much about the truth but is your setting in the state of Oregon or in North Carolina?

With regard to the truth and good stories, I confess to having composed a song about a cow sinking a Japanese trawler.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, who loves detail historically true or otherwise.

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 08:29 PM

Oregon Inlet is a nasty piece of work that has taken many a boat down that was trying to get into the calmer waters of Pamlico Sound. I don't think there is an Oregon Inlet in Oregon.

Hiya Annie, good to see ya showing up here! And thanks for the lyrics!

Check out this thread I started awhile ago about my great uncle the rum running museum curator...
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=44066

Stay dry...

Bill

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 08:31 PM

my great uncle Fred thread

sorry, forgot to clickie-ize it before.

W-O

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 08:51 PM

Reads like a good song to sing. Any chance of the tune?

("Feign" in the second line seems strange. Is that a local expression somewhere in this kind of context? In practice I suspect that "Vain" would be what most listeners would be likely to hear, and that makes easier sense.)

A pedantic point - wouldn't they have chucked out the sugar cane first before even thinking of ditching the rum?

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: raredance
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 10:46 PM

Loved the lyrics. Here's some trivia about Oregon Inlet.

How Oregon Inlet Was Named

The Outer Banks are pierced at various intervals by geographic formations called inlets. The label is a misnomer, for actually they are outlets, a necessary safety valve that allows the waters of the inland rivers and sounds to drain into the sea. Throughout recorded human history on the Banks, over 100 inlets have opened and closed usually during hurricanes or Nor'easters, which slice the narrow islands and dredge out the openings.

Oregon Inlet is no exception. While the present-day inlet is one of the most commercially vital inlets on the Banks, in 1846, it did not exist. That year, a great hurricane moved up the East Coast and over the Outer banks. According to legend, the storm caught a sailing vessel on a return trip to Edenton, NC, from Bermuda in the open. As the crew of the ship struggled to keep their vessel from wrecking in the treacherous surf, the storm grew in intensity. Finally, a gigantic surge lifted the ship on its crest, depositing it safely on a shallow sand bar where it safely rode out the rest of the storm.

The next morning, the crew emerged to find their ship stranded in Pamlico Sound. To the east, a huge cut had been carved through the narrow island to the sea where none had existed before. Amazed, they worked to free their vessel, finally floating it and returning to Edenton, where they told their tale. And it was there that the ship called Oregon lent its name to the new inlet.

The Bonner Bridge crossing the inlet was opened in 1963. Before that a ferry was necessary to get to Hatteras Island. In 1990 a barge damaged some of the bridge supports during a storm and it wqas back to ferry traffic for a number of months until the bridge was repaired.


Oregon Inlet Oregon Inlet in North Carolina, the only inlet along a 170 km stretch of coast, supports an active commercial fishing and recreational boating industry. Severe erosion, because of the ongoing migration of the inlet resulted in NC constructing a terminal groin in 1990 to prevent the highway from being cut off from the south side of the bridge. As with most natural tidal inlets, Oregon Inlet has seen these dynamic changes since its opening in 1846, and has migrated more than two miles south of its original location. Monitoring programs are attempting to determine whether or not further engineering efforts are required to stabilize the inlet. A very controversial program has been around for quite a few years that would build two mile long jetties at the inlet to try to stop the natural movement of the sand. It would cost about $100 million. Some critics describe this as a $500,000 subsidy to each of the charter fishing boats operating from the inlet marina. Other critics including the US Fish & Wildlife Service say it would turn parts of the Bodie Island National Wildlfe Refuge and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore into a permanent construction zone, adversely affect an already threatened fishery, and destroy crucial wildlife habitat such as nesting areas for endangered sea turtles.


rich r

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 11:47 AM

Great notes! Thanks!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyrics Add: Oregon Inlet
From: Annie
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 08:57 PM

Yea, great notes rich r and willie-o! Thanks for The Anna Grace Willie-0 ! I really enjoyed it. I crossed Oregon Inlet yesterday and back today for a quick trip (250 miles from my house to Avon). I love crossing that bridge because the seas are so worked up by the shallows that water piles in every which way showing lots of white.

McGrath, how astute you are regarding "feign", I believe I see the error of my ways for using a verb where an adjective should be. So "vain" is a winner. Thanks for solving it while you were at it. PM me your address and I'll shoot you the tune if you're interested.