Lord Franklin
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
We were homeward bound one night on the deep,
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep.
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May,
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes roll.
Through cruel misfortune they vainly strove,
Their ships on mountains of ice was drove,
Where the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that could ever come through.
In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know.
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell,
Lord Franklin along with his sailors do dwell.
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long lost Franklin I would cross the main.
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know that on earth my Franklin do live.
"Lord Franklin", also known as "Lady Franklin's Lament" and "The Sailor's<br> Dream" is a traditional folk ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws (Laws K09)<br> and is in the Roud index as #487. The song recounts the story of a sailor who<br> dreams about Lady Franklin speaking of the loss of her husband, Sir John<br> Franklin, who disappeared in Baffin Bay during his 1845 expedition through the<br> Arctic Ocean in search of the Northwest Passage sea route to the Pacific Ocean.<br> It was almost twelve years before the story of what had actually happened to<br> the expedition was finally pieced together. After sailing round the island in<br> the far north of Canada, the ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, became trapped<br> in the ice; what was completely unexpected, however, was that the lime juice<br> stored in barrels became useless and half the crews of both ships died of scurvy.<br> Some of the others decided to strike across country for a mission station, but<br> one by one they died on the journey. How they managed to die in country that was<br> full of game where Eskimos had lived for generations is a mystery. The real<br> tragedy was Franklin's blunder in not allowing for such a contingency: he had<br> taken along beautiful tea-services, flags and dress uniforms for the celebrations<br> when their mission was accomplished, instead of extra food supplies.<br> In 1854, Scottish explorer Dr. John Rae discovered evidence through talking to<br> Inuit hunters, among others that the expedition had wintered in 1845–46 on<br> Beechey Island. The expedition's ships became trapped in ice off King William<br> Island in September 1846. According to a note later found on that island,<br> Franklin died there on June 11, 1847. The exact location of his grave remains<br> unknown.<br> The song first appeared as a broadside ballad around 1850 and has since been<br> recorded with the melody of the Irish traditional air "Cailín Óg a Stór"<br> (the melody of the Irish song "The Croppy Boy"). It has been found in Ireland,<br> in the UK (Scotland) and in some regions of Canada.<br> It was recorded by Martin Carthy, Liam Clancy, Paul Clayton, Louis Killen,<br> A. L. Lloyd, Sinéad O'Connor, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Kevin Burke, Pentangle and<br> John Renbourn.<br>
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