Grace and Favour

Out of Hull a course was set
Clothes and soap and spinning gear
Passengers and crew well met
Dundee destination clear

A head of steam
All the way
A holy man
There for his health they say

Humble was the Captain's name
Blighted by a mighty storm
A boiler could not hold its own
Worse than passage round Cape Horn

Raising sails
In heavy seas
Neptune's mouth
Crew and Captain on their knees

See around the lighthouse wild
Everything blown off course
Flying through the soaring peaks
Listing ship — mighty horse

Rails on deck
The holy man
Is losing grip
Falling, sliding...

Now she is lost
Nature will have her way
She's broken in two
Sinking beneath the fray

Silence and dark
Down in the drowning deep
Dowsing life's spark
To an eternal sleep

Darling daughter launched the boat
Rowing strong at Craford's Gut
It's hard to keep the cob afloat
Till William on the rock was put

Everything slows
She's keeping it steady now
See how she rows
Pulling towards the bow

Confidence grows
Riding the highest wave
Now that she knows
Death is a breath away

Nine were saved that fateful morn
Grace and favour won the day
No one blamed it on the storm
Humble was the man to pay

Sailor's life
Merry life
Rob young girls
Of their heart's delight

Leaving them
To sigh and mourn
Never know when
They will return
They will return