Wreck of The Shelly L

Ah yes storms…you ask? I’ve seen me fair share. Back when I was a young man off the cold Labrador coast I survived the wreck of the whaling boat Shelly L…

The roar of the wind in the wires

Snapping like the crack of a whip

Fighting King Neptune’s own greed

To claim our sweet beloved whaling ship

We clung to the Lab coast

Off Newfoundland’s jagged shore

All hands were called out to bail

Pumps gave up, we’re goners for sure

The old ship listed to the starboard

Felt her stern wallow in deep

The first mate looked calmly around

Then lit his pipe as he tried not to weep

He said we’re too close to the reef

Skipper, please pull her away

But the man gave the orders

Off his course we’d not stray

So the Mate held his tongue

Not his place to decide

Crossed himself in the moonlight

Then hung on for the ride

Twas well near to midnight

We first heard the death knocks

Crewmen like matchsticks

Were dashed out on the rocks

Cries of the dying I’ll not soon forget

Lifeboats overturn, drowned bodies under they’d drag

As we watched our ship start to sink to the bottom

I hit the water on an empty rum keg

Many would not have been drowned

If the Skipper heeded advice I gave to he

Only two men survived on that terrible night

We clung to that rum keg just the skipper and me