SCENES AT SEA

Have you watched the foaming white caps
Rolling down an inland bay,
When a howling late nor'wester
Favours nothing in its way?
Have you seen these waters tranquil,
Mirrored 'neath the stars at night?
If you haven't, then believe me,
You have missed a thrilling sight.

When deep sea leviathans flounder,
And engaged in bitter strife;
Have you watched them as they battled,
Fighting for their very life?
Have you seen a towering ice berg
Glistening in the bright sunlight?
If you haven't, then believe me,
You have missed a thrilling sight.

Have you watched the graceful sea gulls
Riding on the ocean's crest,
And the playful mackerels leaping
Like acrobats at their best?
Have you seen a full rigged clipper
Drest out in her canvas white?
If you haven't, then believe me,
You have missed a thrilling sight.

Have you seen an Arctic ice flow
Crash against a bold head land?
Have you watched a loan sand piper
Hunting on some quiet strand?
Have you seen a sea bird's rookery,
And have watched them there in flight?
If you haven't, then believe me
You have missed a thrilling sight.

April 18, 1950

OLD SAILOR BILL

Old Bill he always loved the sea,
He was a sailor bold,
Until he had to stay on shore
As he was growing old.

He never had no family cares,
And never wooed a wife;
The sea was his ambition
And it shared his daily life.

He used to stroll down to the quay
Each day and sit around,
To watch the busy harbour tugs,
And ships all outward bound.

He loved the sea, he loved the ships,
And sitting there each day,
He fancied he could feel the splash
Of flying spume and spray.

He crossed the ocean many times,
And sailed the seven seas,
Oftimes at night in dreams he saw
White topsails in the breeze.

The young lads they would gather 'round,
And listen to his tales
Of far off lands where he had been,
And shipwrecks, storms and gales.

One day they found him very still
With head bowed on his chest,
Old Bill had ended his last voyage,
And reached his port of rest.

SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT

Ships are passing in the night,
While on shore, landlubbers sleep,
Far from land, and far from sight,
Tossing on the restless deep.
Weathering storms or pleasant breeze
With rich cargoes in their hold,
They're the nations life line these
'Twixt the New World and the Old.

Ships are passing in the night,
Homeward bound from o'er the foam;
From the Cape the beacon light
Flash it's message "Welcome home".
Home again, the mariner he
Mingles with his kith and kin,
And in dreams oft times he'll see
Towering white caps roll again.

Ships are passing in the night
As they round the harbour buoy,
And the flashing harbour light
Seems to hail them "Ship Ahoy".
Anchored on a moonlit bay
Where is heard the ocean's rote,
Ships their riding lights display
Like some midget town afloat.

Photo: Schooner DLT FRAMPTON. Built in Gin Cove By Edmund Frampton name after his sons Dan, Lindo & Ted

LIFE'S VOYAGE

This life is like an ocean voyage
We're sailing every day,
And stormy seas and pleasant breeze
We encounter on the way.

At times our barque seems small and frail
When buffetted about
Amid each reef of unbelief,
Uncertainty and doubt.

Some due to sad misfortune
Lies shipwrecked on life's shore;
And some so fair just disappear,
Their span of life half o'er.

While others they are wafted on
Towards their port afar,
And at the sunset of their lives
They cross the harbour bar.

There's many dangers to be met
Before we reach that shore,
But safe at last with perils past
We'll sail life's seas no more.

Photo: This wheel house, from the schooner EMA FRAMPTON, was removed from the vessel after she went ashore on the Labrador. It is located in Cartwright, Newfoundland.

THE WINDJAMMERS

No more is seen the lofty ships
That were in days gone by,
As in port they rode with topsails stowed,
And yard arms swinging high.

With costly cargoes stowed below
Each ship would proudly bear
To foreign lands and far off strands,
Beyond our hemisphere.

Drest out in billowing canvas white,
And colours flying free,
With topsails set and scuppers wet,
Their's was a sight to see.

Each ship was manned by seamen bold,
Lighthearted, free and brave,
Where e'er they roamed it was their home
Upon the ocean wave.

No more is seen as days gone by
A full rigged brigantine,
Slip from her quay and sail away,
A roving ocean queen.

March, 1949

THE GREAT DIVIDE

There is a land beyond our sight,
And often we may yearn
To catch a glimpse of that blest shore,
From whence none e'er return;
But when some day we launch away
To sail that rolling tide,
May we be safely wafted on
Across the Great Divide.

At time when evening shadows fall,
In fancy we may hear
Those voices calling from afar
Beyond our earthly sphere;
And as we sit and meditate
Beside life's changing tide,
We know our friends awaits us there
Beyond the Great Divide.

When life's short day draws to an end
Led by an evening star,
We'll launch our barque and sail away
Out o'er the harbour bar;
Our Pilot will be waiting there
To guide us o'er the tide,
And there contented we will dwell
Beyond the Great Divide.

June, 1948