Print This Page#02085 Print This Page
One night last week at twelve o'clock as I lay in my bed,
I heard the steamer blowing just inside Cape Broyle Head;
I rose from 'neath the blankets, to the window stretched my neck,
And I saw the steamer Toravan and she was a total wreck.
As morning dawned the crowd came in from places all around,
They tried to fight and grab it all, whatever there they found;
The only thing they didn't touch is what they couldn't get,
'Twas the bottom of the steamer, and I believe they'll get that yet.
They came from Tors Cove, Shore's Cove, Admiral's Cove,
And Caplin Cove, Renews, Fermeuse, Ferryland, also;
Bay Bulls, Cape Broyle, Aquaforte, and Mobile,
People came from places where Buckley's goat do grow.
There'll be bread and jam the whole year 'round and Oxo cubes and rice,
Rice and macaroni, oh, boys, won't that be nice?
Leaden pipes and piles of rope we're selling now for cash
They saved from out the Toravan, that night they made the dash.
Pat Power was there, Lar French was there,
The Colberts, too, they got their share,
Dick Nolan says he's feeling sick on Oxo cubes and jam;
Mike Kent and the other boys from up the shore they are no flies,
They're living high today, my boys, on catsup and boiled ham.
ln every house on the Southern Shore that you'll go in today,
You're sure to find borne-wreckage in the cupboard stowed away;
It's feasting on the luxuries at night and noon and morn,
They will not pay a custom tax till Gabriel blows the horn.
The winter now is coming 'round, I'll tell you all some news,
If you want to get a cheap job done, go to Colbert for new shoes;
And if he charges you too much, just tell him not to mind,
Just stroll away to Ferryland, in the harbour more you'll find.
Collected in 1951 from John Power of Tors Cove, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
