American Old Time Song Lyrics: 11 Wreck Of The Haddingtonshire

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 11

Wreck of the Haddingtonshire.
Tune- " The Cumberland's Crew."

Oh. shipmates, come gather, and list to my ditty,
A horrible story to you I'll relate;
When you've heard the sad news, you will say 'tis a pity,
Afoul the brave sailor laddies, and also their fate.
On the twenty-first of August, the morning being cloudy,
To make Frisco port sure, it was their desire-
When the crew got a shock, for she struck on a rock,
That noble Scotch ship, named the Haddingtonshire.

The captain gave orders to take to the rigging,
For an hour and a half there the sailors did stay,
While the billows were rolling, the sails they were tearing,
'Till, alas! with a crash the masts gave away.
Some dead and some dying, more shouting and crying,
The captain, a brave man, was the last that stood by her-
A Norwegian and young Blurry, swam ashore in a hurry,
The only two that were saved from the Haddingtonshire.

On the beach they did stay, until the break of day,
Watching for their shipmates that they'd see never more,
For the ocean had claimed them and also retained them,
Until their dead bodies are drifted ashore.
There will be fathers and mothers, wives, sisters and brothers,
Will read their sad fate rallied over the wire;
It will break many a heart, when forever they part
From the crew that was lost on the Haddingtonshire.

So friends have a kind word always for a sailor,
Whose life is a hard one on the raging sea ;
Were it not for them, with the aid of Columbus,
We would never be here in the land of the free.
So let us pray for the poor ones that were shipwrecked.
And hope that the Lord will give then a berth higher-
Where their sins will be forgiven-on his right hand in heaven-
Those poor souls that were lost on the Haddingtonshire.