City Of Boston

As I roved out one evening down by a Merseyside,
I overheard a damsel into deep anguish cried:
My husband dear, alas I fear, he'll never return to me,
He is on the City Of Boston, tosséd on the raging main

Bound for the port of Liverpool with passengers and mail,
The steamship City Of Boston from Halifax did sail;
Now she is over four months due, no news can we obtain,
From the missing City Of Boston, we'll never see her again

My love was a gallant sailor bold and liked by all his crew,
A kind and loving husband and a tender father, too;
It's on the City Of Boston he ofttimes crossed the main,
But now I fear he's in the deep and I'll never see him again.

How little did he ever think when he first took leave of me,
That he would be so long away from his little family;
With a pleasant heart he left me as he ofttimes did before,
But now I fear he's in the deep, and I'll never see him no more.

There are many now in Liverpool with aching hearts like me,
He's on the City Of Boston my gallant sailor bold;
Six darling little children cry: my Dada's tosséd on shore,
Or drowned in the deep, deep sea, and we'll never see him no more.

####.... Author unknown ....####

Sung by Alexander March (1865-1953) of Port au Port, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

Note: The British passenger steamship City Of Boston was built for the Inman Line and launched 15 Nov 1865. She left Halifax, Nova Scotia, 28 Jan 1870, bound for Liverpool, England, with 107 passengers and 84 crew. She was never heard of again.
Source: Palmer List Of Merchant Vessels ©2001 Michael P. Palmer