Sarah McInnis - Second August Gale

A note from the artist:
“This song, based on true events, was inspired by my great-great-great grandfather, Captain Angus Ferguson. After learning about his story from my parents, I combed through a news article detailing the facts of that tragic evening and pieced this song together. It was a surreal and humbling experience to stand on the shores of the Lawrencetown Beach, nearby to where he and his crew members died. Thank you Katy and Zak for capturing the sights and sounds of this day so beautifully”.
Late Tuesday evening, rumours flying through Halifax
They called it the Second August Gale, as fierce as the last
It rocked the waters the night before, in 1893
Between Newfoundland and New England, twenty ships were lost at sea

Once such vessel found on Shut-In Island Reef
Near to Three Fathom Harbour, though it came with no relief
‘Cause the twenty-four souls on board, some crew and some kin
Clung to hope like a fraying rope before they met their fateful end

Steady as she goes, steady as she goes
How it happened that night, no one knows

It was the Dorcas and the Etta Stewart, a steamer and a barge
Both engaged in the coal trade, with one man in charge
Captain Angus Ferguson, most trusted man around
Was behind the wheel of iron and steel the night they ran a-ground

The captain he left Sydney, proudly in his uniform
Not knowing the southeast gale would become the perfect storm
He thought that they could make it, he had been through worse before
But the seas so wide, running mountain high had death knock down that ship’s door

Steady as she goes, heavy as she went
He had a dream since just fifteen to be a captain

It was with a heavy heart, he said “boys we’re going down”
And he could see the cliffs through the rain and mist a stones throw from Lawrencetown
When the wreckage was discovered, bodies floating, ghostly white
But the waves too wild to get them back ‘till the tide went out that night

Steady as she goes, steady as she goes
How it happened that night, no one knows
Steady as she goes, heavy as she went
He had a dream since just fifteen to be a captain

Now generations later, family standing on the shore
Trying to imagine the night the ocean swallowed twenty-four
Written and performed by Sarah McInnis.

Recorded live at Lawrencetown Beach, NS, August 21, 2018.

Camera and editing by Analog Songs, audio recorded and mixed by Zakary Miller.

Видео Sarah McInnis - Second August Gale канала AnalogSongs