Shipwreck Of Alma Cooke (Patrick Houlihan) with lyrics

#02103

Shipwreck Of Alma Cooke (Patrick Houlihan) with lyrics

Ye plucky boys of Lear's Cove,
Ye heroes of our bay,
Ye on more than one occasion,
Done on land and sea.
On the 25th of November,
The sea ran mountains high;
The breakers roared on the cape shore,
We heard a mournful cry.

Said Albert Young, 'Tis cries for help,
It's from a shipwrecked crew;
It's too rough to launch our boats,
What is the best to do?
We'll all go to the Beach Cove,
I hope we'll meet things right;
We'll save them in Beach Cove,
When they see our lantern light.

When we got down in Beach Cove,
The wind and sea did roar;
We got them safely landed,
To see their friends once more.

When we got them on the beach,
Unto our great surprise,
To save those five poor sailor boys,
That dark and stormy night.
To get them over Broyle's Scrape,
We fought the wind and rain;
At five o'clock next morning,
We were all home safe again.

Long life to those brave Lear's Cove boys,
For their pluck and bravery, too;
And all the danger they went in,
To save the shipwrecked crew.
Their pluck and bravery will be spoke,
And praised up many a day,
By the sailors of the Alma Cooke,
'Twas lost near Golden Bay.

####.... Written by Patrick Houlihan, lighthouse keeper at Cape St. Mary's, 2-1/2 miles from Lear's Cove. Archived at the Library St. Brides, as sung by Arthur Young who was six years old at the time of the wreck ....####

Notes: This shipwreck took place on the night of November 25, 1903, in Lear's Cove, NL. The vessel went on a reef near Golden Bay. The captain of the Alma Cooke was Eli Ayres of St. Jacques. He was off course and didn't know where they were. The crew hove out their dory when a big sea struck their ship. The next day the shipwrecked crew walked to Placentia. The Alma Cooke washed ashore, smashed in bits.
~ Excerpted from Disasters Of The Cape Shore by students of Fatima Academy, St. Bride's, NL.

From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
Scrape - bare place on a steep hillside; a bare patch, often caused by erosion or a landslide, on a steep bank or hill, frequently used in place-names; a pathway worn on a hillside.

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