Origins: Loss of the Scotch Patrick

Subject: Origins: 'Loss of the Scotch Patrick'
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 13 Aug 03 - 03:15 AM

THE LOSS OF THE SCOTCH PATRICK in the DT, covers the loss, by fire, of the Cospatrick, off the Cape of Good Hope in 1874. She was an emigrant ship en-route from Gravesend to Auckland NZ (hence my interest). Of the souls on board, 472 died. Only three survived - as the song states:

With pious moans they for water cried
And one by one they dropped and died.

The remaining few with hunger mad
Eat the dead bodies and drank their blood

Gory, eh?

I thought I'd seen the story discussed here, but could only find one thread mentioning the Cospatrick. Nothing on the NZ Folk Site either, so I must've seen it elsewher. The song undoubtedly was inspired by these contemporary accounts which I just located.

Now all we need is soeone to write a tune for it.

Cheers - Sam in NZ

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Loss of the Scotch Patrick'
From: IanC
Date: 13 Aug 03 - 10:52 AM

There are 4 entries in the Bodleian Collection

Lines on the burning of the emigrant ship, 'Cospatrick' (1874)
Dreadful disaster at sea 500 lives lost. Burning of the emigrant ship "Cospatrick" (1874)
and two
Lamentable lines on the burning of the "Cospatrick" (1855-1899) (no image)

:-)

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Loss of the Scotch Patrick'
From: Uke
Date: 06 Oct 03 - 05:11 AM

This song should definitely be of interest to NZ-ers, apparently the disaster sent shockwaves round the British Empire at the time. There's a chapter in the book "White Wings" (about NZ emigrant ships) concerning this incident.

For a melody, I've been trialing one in the Greig-Duncan books (where this song is found without a tune). It's from Greig's same informant and is goes with a song called "The Loss of the London" - another emigrant-ship-disaster tale. It's a cracker of a Scottish melody and requires only one small alteration to fit the "Scotch Patrick" words. Worth hunting out.

By the way, I think that other thread is about a completely different song, an English ballad called "Gil Brenton" (Child 5).