Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's

Subject: Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's (
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 03:32 PM

Lyr. Add: THE "UNION" FROM ST. JOHN'S

Ye landsmen that live on the land,
Come listen to what I write;
While plowing on the raging main
I always took delight.

You'll stay on shore with your pretty girls,
Telling to them fine tales,
But the hardest labor that ever you done
Was to plant and reap your fields.

'Twas the eighteenth day of November last,
The heaviest gale came on,
The heavens above looked angry,
And the clouds overcast the sun.

The winds being south-be-east, me b'ys,
With heavy showers of hail,
The night being so dark as a dungeon,
'Twas on the lee shore she fell.

Our captain he gave orders,
His orders for to obey,
He said, "You had better go forward, my b'ys,
Your foresail to lower away."

We tried to reef our mainsail
But that could not be done,
It's under a three-reef foresail, my b'ys,
Five lengths of a sea she run.

Two hours in that condition,
We had no means to stay,
To see the seas come tumbling down,
A wreck she continued to lay.

Once more she slowly rises
Which causes all hands to say:
"God bless our little vessel, my b'ys,
Once more she heads the sea."

About two o'clock in the morning
We received a dreadful shock,
The vessel on her beam-ends lay
Three miles below Bellow's Rock.

We boarded the wreck in the morning,
What a pitiful sight to behold!
Three frozen seamen lashed to the pumps,
While six in her cabin lay cold.

They're all as hardy young fellows
As ever you could find,
Like heroes brave they fought the waves,
Like British heroes died.

She is the Union from St. John's
Right well I know her mold,
And every time I think on this,
It makes my blood run cold.

She is the Union from St. John's,
Right well I know her name,
And every night as I lay on my bed,
I would hear those young widows complain.

But now they're gone, God bless them
My b'ys, your day is done,
A widow may weep for her husband dear,
While a mother her darling son.

Dorian tune provided, as well as a Mixolydian-Ionian for another version.
No details about date of the gale.

Kenneth Peacock, 1965, Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, vol. 3, pp. 978-980.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's (
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 03:34 PM

(? starting to write (wreck).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's (
From: gnu
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 04:12 PM

Quite a tune. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's (
From: GEST
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 08:43 PM

From GEST Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador:

The date does not correspond so whether or not it pertains to the Union is questionable, but a page-long column in an old St. John's newspaper, entitled "Memorable Springs and Other Information, Seal Fishery," has this to say concerning the year 1833:

"Celebrated for the loss of the schooner Union, Capt. Jno. Delaney, with a picked crew of 28 men from Trinity; built by Charles Newhook of New Harbour for Jno. B. Garland, merchant; capsized while under full sail. April 23rd, the schooners Active and Avon took some of her seals and towed her for 2 days, but had to let her go."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Union from St. John's (
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 09:33 PM

The newspaper report is mentioned in "Newhook Master Shipbuilders," by N. C. Crewe, Newfoundland Archives, but probably not the same vessel. "Union" was a rather common name.
Newhook Master Shipbuilders

Couldn't find any that matched the event.