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The Bruce was bound for Louisburg the night being dark and drear,
When Captain Drake stood on the bridge a man who knew no fear;
Ten knots an hour she bore along against the wind and tide,
The white-cap waves they madly dashed against this proud ship's side.
The helmsman with heart and cheer so brave and strong as steel,
Stood like a sentinel at his post beside the Bruce's wheel;
The passengers were all below and all were of good cheer,
They never dreamt that danger grave was lurking very near.
But accidents will happen quick as you will understand,
There's no occasion to be safe upon the sea or land;
No gentle warning to prepare, no tender call so brief,
The Bruce with mail and passengers she ran upon a reef.
And then a great confusion aboard the ship held sway,
The helpless female passengers could only kneel and pray;
Their weeping children clinging close beside their mother's form,
It was a pitiful picture there that night with sea and storm.
The boats were ordered to be lowered, and the volunteers to aid
Were all true Newfoundlanders, they never were afraid;
Were all true Newfoundlanders, their hearts were kind and true,
When danger stares you in the face they'll risk their lies for you.
And by the Bruce's noble crew the passengers were saved,
Except death to one poor fellow, I'll agree that he was brave;
Young Pike all from his native home intended for to roam,
Was snatched all from the strangers' hands and buried in the foam.
Alas unto his wife and friends they're sad as we all know,
Alas great God who dwells above from Whom all blessings flow;
He gives the power of request all with His mighty hand,
And places him with the fishermen of dear old Newfoundland.
Collected in 1960 from Jim Dalton of Codroy, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.939-940, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
Kenneth Peacock noted that Jim Dalton learned this native ballad from his mother, who told him the disaster took place about 1910 on a reef five or six miles out of Louisburg, Nova Scotia. The exact date and location of the shipwreck remain to be authenticated.
From the Northern Shipwrecks Database and Shipwrecks Of Nova Scotia:
The SS Bruce was a 237 foot long steel passenger steam ferry owned by the Trans-Newfoundland Railway. She was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1897, and was going from Port aux Basques, NL, to Louisburg, NS, with 123 passengers when driven on rocks of Port Nova Reef by ice in Main-à-Dieu Passage southwest of Scatarie Island off Cape Breton Point, NS on March 24, 1911, with a reported loss of two crewmen.
