It Was Sad When The Great Ship Went Down....

[SeattlePioneer 144]

A hundred years ago now....

 

 

 

The Great Titanic

 

 

It was on one Monday morning just about one o'clock

When that great Titanic began to reel and rock;

People began to scream and cry,

Saying, "Lord, am I going to die?"

 

Chorus

 

It was sad when that great ship went down,

It was sad when that great ship went down,

Husbands and wives and little children lost their lives,

It was sad when that great ship went down.

 

When that ship left England it was making for the shore,

The rich had declared that they would not ride with the poor,

So they put the poor below,

They were the first to go.

 

While they were building they said what they would do,

We will build a ship that water can't go through;

But God with power in hand

Showed the world that it could not stand.

 

Those people on that ship were a long ways from home,

With friends all around they did n't know that the time had come;

Death came riding by,

Sixteen hundred had to die.

 

While Paul was sailing his men around,

God told him that not a man should drown;

If you trust and obey,

I will save you all to-day.

 

You know it must have been awful with those people on the sea,

They say that they were singing, "Nearer My God to Thee."

While some were homeward bound,

Sixteen hundred had to drown.

 

 

[Pack212Scouter 10]

Missed by a month...it was 15 April

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Dang!

[CalicoPenn 729]

Gee, you're not a month early - you're 8 months early, you got the wrong ship, and it hasn't been a hundred years quite yet:

 

 

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee."

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

when the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more

than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,

that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

when the "Gales of November" came early.

 

The ship was the pride of the American side

coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.

As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most

with a crew and good captain well seasoned,

concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms

when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.

And later that night when the ship's bell rang,

could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

 

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound

and a wave broke over the railing.

And ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too

'twas the witch of November come stealin'.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait

when the Gales of November came slashin'.

When afternoon came it was freezin' rain

in the face of a hurricane west wind.

 

When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'.

"Fellas, it's too rough t'feed ya."

At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,

"Fellas, it's bin good t'know ya!"

The captain wired in he had water comin' in

and the good ship and crew was in peril.

And later that night when 'is lights went outta sight

came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

 

Does any one know where the love of God goes

when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay

if they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er.

They might have split up or they might have capsized;

they may have broke deep and took water.

And all that remains is the faces and the names

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

 

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings

in the rooms of her ice-water mansion.

Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;

the islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario

takes in what Lake Erie can send her,

And the iron boats go as the mariners all know

with the Gales of November remembered.

 

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,

in the "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral."

The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times

for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

of the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee."

"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead

when the gales of November come early!"

 

 

[SSScout 1616]

((news item)) SHIP CRASHES AND GROUNDS ON MAIDEN VOYAGE

 

 

 

A long time ago, when the Earth was green

There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen

They'd run around free while the Earth was being born

And the loveliest of all was the unicorn

 

There was green alligators and long-necked geese

Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees

Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born

The loveliest of all was the unicorn

 

The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain

And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"

He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do

Build me a floating zoo,

and take some of those...

 

Green alligators and long-necked geese

Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees

Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born

Don't you forget my unicorns

 

Old Noah was there to answer the call

He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall

He marched the animals two by two

And he called out as they came through

Hey Lord,

 

I've got green alligators and long-necked geese

Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees

Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn

I just can't find no unicorns"

 

And Noah looked out through the driving rain

Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games

Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling

Oh, them silly unicorns

 

There was green alligators and long-necked geese

Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees

Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling

And we just can't wait for no unicorns"

 

The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide

The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried

And the waters came down and sort of floated them away

That's why you never see unicorns to this very day

 

You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese

Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees

Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born

You're never gonna see no unicorns