LORD FRANKLIN
(learned from an A.L.Lloyd record in about 1990;.a true story of Lord Franklin's disappearance in 1845)
It was homeward bound one night on the deep
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
Through cruel hardships they vainly strove,
In Baffin's Bay where the whalefish blow,
And now my burden it gives me pain,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
Lying in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream, and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek that passage around the Pole
Where we, poor seamen, do sometimes roll.
Their ship on mountains of ice was broke,
Where the Eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one who ever got through.
The fate of Franklin no man may know,
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell,
Where Lord Franklin along with his sailors do dwell.
For our long lost Franklin I'd cross the main,
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To say that on earth Lord Franklin do live.