Lyr Req: The Waterwitch (trad Australia)

Subject: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Clean Supper
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 06:33 AM

Do you know this song. I know the chorus but I need the words (and maybe the tune if the words don't remind me of it) of the verses.

Bound away, bound away
Where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away on the Water Witch,
To the Westward we'll go.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 08:46 AM

G'day Clean Supper,

There is a version collected, in Tasmania, Australia, From Jack Davies, an old sailor - about 1961 ... but I'm sure there is a fairly standard European version, in collections such as Hugill's Songs of the Seven Seas. In fact, I'm surprised that I can't find it in the MudCat Digital Tradition ... using "Bound Away" or "Water Witch" as search criteria!

If someone doesn't give the 'standard' version, I'll give you the Tasmanian one.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 10:42 AM

Nothing I can find in Hugill or altenative DT searches. Any other clues?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 10:57 AM

If it is the same song, the Roud index lists two examples only (it may really be just one) at present, appearing in the 1927 and 1966 editions of Doyle's Old Time Poetry and Songs of Newfoundland, as [ Loss of the ] Water Witch, or Heroism of Pouch Cove Fisherman.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 10:03 PM

Lyrics to the Newfoundland song at: Water Witch

Several famous vessels named the Water Witch, as well as the novel by James Fennimore Cooper.

May well be other songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 25 Jan 03 - 11:03 PM

The Tasmanian version has the line "Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we'll go."
At Simply Australia: Waterwitch

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 26 Jan 03 - 12:18 AM

They're completely different songs, evidently; my reference to the Newfoundland song was misleading, then. I can't think of a European form at all, but sea-songs aren't really my line. Any further thoughts, Bob?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Jan 03 - 10:35 AM

Hah! now I know why that chorus struck a bell. This is a version of Hugill's "The Liverpool Packet", pp. 347-348, whose chorus runs:

Bound away! Bound away!
Through the ice, sleet and snow,
She's a Liverpool packet,
Oh, Lord, let 'er go!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 01:09 PM

Well, I thought it was a good catch!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 01:27 PM

That WAS a good catch, Charley! First verse, per DT:

THE DREADNAUGHT

It's of a flash packet, a packet of fame,
She hails from New York and the Dreadnaught's her name.
'Cross the wild Western ocean, she's bound for to go.
She's the Liverpool packet. Oh Lord, let her go!
Derry down, down, down derry down.

The version that gets done at the San Francisco chantey sings -- not quite the one referenced here in the DT -- definitely includes the line "Bound away in the Dreadnaught to the westward we'll go." Chanteyranger will undoubtedly know where that version came from, if you can dredge him up.

ClaireBear

Clean Supper: If the song you're seeking is the one Guest,Q has linked to at Simply Australia, see if the tune link from the DT Dreadnaught lyric jogs your memory.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Clean Supper
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 10:32 AM

Wow! Thanks for all that info. This mudcat thing is amazing. I'm impressed by how much everyone knows between us.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 10:43 AM

Clean Supper-

You're welcome!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bound away on the water witch
From: GUEST,Valda
Date: 30 Jan 03 - 05:46 AM

It's a long time since I posted on Mudcat - I hope I do it right!
There's a good article on the song Waterwitch on SIMPLY AUSTRALIA. The article by John Low (who happens to be my brother-in-law) is called The WATERWITCH: SOME THOUGHTS ON A TASMANIAN WHALING SONG AND ITS ORIGINS.
Here's the actual url of the article which appears in Issue 3 of the online magazine.
I hope this helps.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WATER WITCH (trad. Newfoundland)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Feb 03 - 10:23 PM

Lyrics copied from http://www.wordplay.com/songs/witch.html

THE WATER WITCH
(Newfoundland song)

All trueborn Newfoundlanders pray hearken unto me,
And hear your messmates tell you all the dangers of the sea;
You all remember Pouch Cove well, and the true sons so brave
Who saved the crew of the Water Witch so near a watery grave.

On Christmas Eve this craft did leave as loud the winds did roar
And on a reef she came to grief not far from Pouch Cove shore;
A place well called the horrid gulch this schooner headed on
And in the twinkling of an eye, three poor dear souls were gone.

Two seamen from the Water Witch leaped when they heard the shock
The rest belong to that doomed ship were huddled on a rock
To wait for hours through hail and showers as loud the seas did dash
And see their schooner breaking up hard on the cliff did crash.

Punts, ropes and lanterns soon were brought by kind and willing hands,
The shrieks of females in distress our fishermen could not stand
And how to face the horrid gulch six hundred feet to go
To save those souls half dead with cold who waited down below.

Brave Alfred Moores, a Pouch Cove man, "I'll take the lead", he cried;
While round his waist strong hempen ropes with heavy knots they tied,
And now strong men are on the top to lower him o'er the cliff;
To dash our hero down below 'neath blinding snow and drift.

Three times they swung him in the dark through blinding drift and cold,
Before his feet could get a place to give him any hold;
At last he found a resting place just 'neath a shelving stone,
Where he could see those souls below and hear each dismal moan,

And now to save this shipwrecked crew his heart is filled with hope;
Six more brave Pouch Cove fishermen like heroes man the rope;
And now a small hand line by Moores, he managed for to lower,
Till all the Water Witch's crew are landed safe on shore.

But, hark! Another scream is heard, the people get a shock
Another female left below to perish on the rock;
When Alfred makes another dash, as loud the wind do roar,
And brings a woman in his arms in safety to the shore.

The news was soon in town next day about the Water Witch,
The whole community got a shock, the poor as well as rich;
The Governor soon sent home word in letters bold and grand
To tell of the pluck of fishermen belong to Newfoundland.

The Humane Society of Liverpool did very soon send here,
Gold Medals for our fishermen that never knew no fear;
The Governor's Lady pinned them on, those medals rare and rich
The Pouch Cove men who saved the lives on board the Water Witch.

So here's success to our bold men who risk in storms or breeze,
Their precious lives for saving souls who venture on the seas;
May peace and plenty be their lot this true and sterling band;
Brave Alfred Moores and all the rest belong to Newfoundland.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WATERWITCH (trad. Australia)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Feb 03 - 10:24 PM

Lyrics copied from http://simplyaustralia.mountaintracks.com.au/issue3/song_waterwitch.html

THE WATERWITCH
(Australian song)

A neat little packet from Hobart set sail,
For to cruise round the west'ard amongst the sperm whale;
Cruising the west'ard where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we'll go.

Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we go.

Now at early one morning, just as the sun rose,
A man from her masthead cries out, "There she blows!"
"We're away!" cried our skipper, and springing aloft,
"Three points on the lee bow and scarce three miles off."

"Get your lines in your boats, me boys, see your box line all clear,
And lower me down, me bully boys, and after him we'll steer!"
[Verse incomplete]

Now the ship she gets full, me boys, and to Hobart we'll steer,
Where there's plenty of pretty girls and plenty good beer.
We'll spend our money freely with the pretty girls on shore,
And when it's all gone, we'll go whaling for more.

Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we go.

[Version as published in T. Inglis Moore, 1964]