Ship that will never return, The

AKAThe loss of the Titanic
First Published1912

Writer/composerFV St ClairRoudRN37314

Music Hall PerformersFV St Clair
Folk performancesCollected from:
Cox, Harry; England : Norfolk 1913
Green, Charles; England : Yorkshire 1971
A big ship left port on it's first maiden voyage,
The world gazed in wonder and pride,
Old England was proud of the ship and it's crew,
Whose captain was trusted and tried;
The ship was a city of splendour and light,
It's rich and it's poor side by side,
But when the shock came and the vessel went down,
Rich man and poor man like Englishmen died.

On the ship that will never return,
The ship that will never return,
Brave words were spoken and brave hearts were broken
Ah! here's where true love you discern,
Mothers they sobbed in prayer,
As they parted from loved ones there,
Husbands and sons, brave-hearted ones,
On the ship that will never return.

Titanic it's name and titanic it's size,
O'er the waves of the ocean she rode,
Four days had gone by since she'd left the old land,
With over two thousand aboard.
And then came the crash in the dead of the night,
But none on the ship were dimayed,
They trusted the captain, they trusted the crew,
And even the women, they were not afraid.

'Be British!' the captain cried out from the bridge,
Be British and british they were,
The women, the children the first for the boats,
And the sailors knew how to obey.
As long as old England sends ships over sea,
The deeds of that night she'll recall,
When rich man and poor man went down side by side,
When rank made no difference for Death levelled all.

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 had a huge cultural impact throughout the English-speaking world. Hundreds of songs were written -responding to the tragedy in a variety of ways: moral, social, political and religious. This one followed the chauvinistic style which featured in so many of FV St Clair songs. It was remembered by Charles Green in 1971 – he sang it to the collector Ian Russell.

This probably derives its title from The ship that never returned (RN775) a song from 1874 by Henry Clay Work, later sung by the Carter Family amongst others.

A contemporary recording by Fred Andrews:

Sources:

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