Lord Franklin

We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.

With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.

Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice was drove
Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through.

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin among his seamen do dwell.

####.... Variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad, The Sailor's Dream [Laws K9] American Balladry From British Broadsides (G. Malcolm Laws, 1957) arranged by Barry Taylor from variants collected by Helen Creighton (1899-1989) and published in Maritime Folk Songs (Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1961, 1972, 1979) ....####

Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin's final expedition (1845-1847) to find the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Bering Strait ended in the loss of all hands due to poisoning from lead-soldered food cans.