In nineteen hundred and fourteen, with winter soon to melt

On icy floes the hunt was on for oil and snow-white pelts

From outports on the northern shore, to firms on Water Street

They bought their gear and claimed their berths to join the sealing fleet.

The oldest was a wooden wall they called the Newfoundland

Her captain green and all too young, the son of a great man

She cleared the narrows in good time, but stalled up in the ice

They worked like dogs to clear the pans that held her like a vice.

All patience gone, the captain cried to Master Watch George Tuff

“We’ve been three weeks without a seal, and b’ye, I’ve had enough!

My father’s ship is in the fat, tis just three miles or four

So take the men and join her there, and pass the night on board.”

Five miles they trekked across the ice beneath a brooding sky

And Captain Kean he gave them tea and put them overside

“I’ll set you on a patch of seals, then back where you belong,”

And with no more of thought or care, the iron ship was gone.

Just as our Saviour lay in hell for three days and two nights

For so long were the sealing men forsaken on the ice

In blinding snow and driving rain that raged from the southwest

To freeze the blood of any man who dared to sleep or rest.

Abide With Me, the sealers sang, and then Lead Kindly Light

They burned the handles and the rope to hold away the night

And Jesse Collins of Hare Bay, he stepped up to take charge

And roused the weary to their feet to dance or box or march.

A brother urged his brother on, and forced the weak to rise

And neighbour bit the blinding ice from off of neighbour’s eyes

While friend would chew the hardtack up to ease the mouth of friend

And father took son in his arms to hide him from the wind.

When Nicolas Morey bowed his head to make his earthly peace

He found the strength to bless himself, and died upon his knees

While others prayed for mercy from the North Atlantic cold

That knows no more of mercy than the enemy of our souls.

Some fell back or slipped away to meet their fate alone

Some went on till heart gave out and fell without a moan

Some went foolish, cursed and ran, or stepped into the brine

Until the sea gives up her dead, no mortal eye shall find.

And when at last the third day rose, the midday sun revealed

The Belleaventure’s dumbstruck crew, who took the men for seals

They brought the living back on board to feed and tend and warm

And gathered up the mute and still who perished in the storm.

They headed half-mast to St. John’s, and there aboard the Belle

Were four and fifty broken men, with awful tale to tell

And laid in rows along her decks were three score souls and ten

While eight remained beneath the waves to not return again.

Chords: (4/4)

    G               Bm                  C      Em      D

In nineteen hundred and fourteen, with winter soon to melt

   Am    C        Bm      Am     D7      Am7         D

On icy floes the hunt was on for oil and snow-white pelts

      D               Bm        D       Bm       Am      D7

From outports on the northern shore, to firms on Water Street

      D                      Bm           Em        Am       D7       G

They bought their gear and claimed their berths to join the sealing fleet.

My source was Cassie Brown’s book Death on the Ice; there is an online article about it here.

I have another song about this disaster, I Will Bring You Home, which tells the story from the perspective of a father and son who were part of the crew.