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Frank and I were shipmates aboard the Ella D,
Our ship was bound from Harbour Grace heading out to sea;
The sails strained against the wind as they billowed out to sky,
And I stood to stare at the empty glare of the sea as it swept by.
When we reached the Banks we offered thanks for the sea turned smooth and still;
As the sun came up it gave a glow over our watery rill,
And watched us slip out from our ship in a dory painted bright,
To where we'd lay and fish all day until the fall of night.
But when the sun began to set and darkness was drawing nigh,
I saw a black and fearsome sight blotting out the sky;
For the fog rolled in and there it hung like an evil coat of grey,
So Frank and I struck for our ship several miles away.
We rowed like hell but still it fell, foreboding and forlorn,
We prayed to hear upon our ear the sounding of the horn;
But the wind came up with a frightening roar which tossed us to and fro,
And waves turned white with a phosphorus light that came from deep below.
It was weird to see and it frightened me in the darkness and the rain,
But our will was strong as we rowed along seeking our ship in vain;
On waves we hurled through a watery world which tossed us up and down,
Through the gloom we peered and shook with fear, praying we wouldn't drown.
Well six nights and days we dory lay on an endless shifting sea,
But we never got sight of the welcome light of our ship, the Ella D;
So with nothing to drink we couldn't think, oh, the gods then had their way,
For when at last I looked at Frank I knew he passed away.
His arms and legs were stiff as pegs, his mouth had fallen slack,
The tears streaked down my salt-caked cheeks, I swore I'd take him back;
In the boat I groped to find a rope, then I trussed him to the side,
With eyes of the dead he gazed ahead over the ocean wide.
With the seventh dawn, my strength near gone, I knew that time would bring,
My whitened bones like driftwood sticks tied with human string;
So I lay there weak in a fog so bleak, I knew that I'd be dead,
But suddenly the fog did lift, and land lay straight ahead.
'Twas the hand of fate which came too late to save his life, just mine,
But as I gazed upon Frank's face his eyes appeared to shine;
Then from the dead he spoke and said as he stared straight up at me,
"You can rest wherever you like, my friend, but bury me at sea.
"We've been shipmates for many a year as we fought the sea and fate,
But I stayed on hand till you saw land 'cause I'm your dorymate;
So please leave me with the restless sea to stay forevermore,
And know the salty ocean air that's untainted by the shore."
So from our dory I rolled Frank out into the briny deep,
And watched him go way down below to his eternal sleep;
An east wind rose that instant and the ocean set me free,
Its fight was done, we both had won the hungry sea and me,
Its fight was done, they both were one - my shipmate and the sea,
My shipmate and the sea.
