The Mary Ellen Carter

(album: Smoke & Oakum - 2022)

Oh, she went down last October in a pouring, driving rain
The skipper, he'd been drinking and the mate, he felt no pain
Out close to Three Mile Rock, and she was dealt her mortal blow
Then the Mary Ellen Carter settled low
There were just us four aboard her when she finally was awash
We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost
But the groan she made as she went down, it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter'd rise again

Rise again, rise again!
May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
All those who loved her best and who were with her till the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!

Well, the company wrote her off; not a nickel would they spend
She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end
But insurance paid the loss to us, said, "Let her rest below"
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go
But we talked of her all winter, sometimes days around the clock
She's worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock
And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

Rise again, rise again!
May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
All those who loved her best and who were with her till the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!

All spring, now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend
Three dives a day in a hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends
Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
Or I'd never have the strength to go below
So we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down
Put cables to her fore and aft and girded her around
Tomorrow noon, we'll hit the air and then take up the strain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

Rise again, rise again!
May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
All those who loved her best and who were with her till the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!

Well we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale
She'd saved our lives so many times, fighting through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who led her to a sorry grave
Well they won't be laughing in another day
And to you, for whom adversity has dealt its mortal blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again

Rise again, rise again!
Though your heart, it be broken, your life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!

Rise again, rise again!
Though your heart, it be broken, your life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!