Digital Tradition Mirror

The Ocean Ranger

The Ocean Ranger
(Mary Garbey)

On the fifteenth day of February
  Nineteen-Eighty-Two
The Ocean Ranger was capsized
  And lost all of its crew
84 precious lives were lost
  On that sad and fateful day
Some were Newfoundlanders
  And some were C.F.A.

The crew in desperation tried
  To launch their covered boats
When they saw the rig, the Ranger
  Would no longer stay afloat
But the seas were far too treacherous
  And the waves were far too high
And each man knew that hope was gone
  It was his time to die

And what an awful night it was
  Out on those roaring seas
The Russian trawler went down too
  Just sixteen miles east
And thirty Russian lives were lost
  And they were just as dear
As those we lost from Newfoundland
  And memories we rever

Like their sons who follow after
  And their fathers gone before
Our men must earn their living
  On that wild and treacherous shore
And whether they're hunting fish
  Or seals, whales, or crude oil
They must endure and persevere
  In hardship and in toil

And now the wakes are over
  And the masses have been said
And the widows and the orphans
  Now are left to mourn their dead
We pray to God the father
  And the son, and holy ghost
To protect all those who venture forth
  Off Newfoundland's fateful coast

AJS
apr97

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!