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Home  »  The English Poets  »  The Wreck of the ‘Julie Plante’

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke

William Henry Drummond (1854–1907)

The Wreck of the ‘Julie Plante’

A Legend of Lac St. Pierre

ON wan dark night on Lac St. Pierre,

De win’ she blow, blow, blow,

An’ de crew of the wood scow Julie Plante

Got scar’t an’ run below—

For de win’ she blow lak hurricane,

Bimeby she blow some more,

An’ de scow bus’ up on Lac St. Pierre

Wan arpent from de shore.

De captinne walk on de fronte deck,

An’ walk de hin’ deck too—

He call de crew from up de hole,

He call de cook also.

De cook she’s name was Rosie,

She come from Montreal,

Was chambre maid on lumber barge,

On de Grande Lachine Canal.

De win’ she blow from nor’—eas’—wes’—

De sout’ win’ she blow too,

W’en Rosie cry “Mon cher captinne,

Mon cher, w’at I shall do?”

Den de captinne t’row de big ankerre

But still de scow she dreef,

De crew he can’t pass on de shore,

Becos’ he los’ hees skeef.

De night was dark lak’ wan black cat,

De wave run high an’ fas’,

Wen de captinne tak’ de Rosie girl

An’ tie her to de mas’.

Den he also tak’ de life preserve,

An’ jump off on de lak’.

An’ say, “Good-bye, ma Rosie dear,

I go drown for your sak’.”

Nex’ morning very early,

’Bout ha’f-pas’ two—t’ree—four—

De captinne—scow—an’ de poor Rosie

Was corpses on de shore,

For the win’ she blow lak’ hurricane

Bimeby she blow some more,

An’ de scow bus’ up on Lac St. Pierre

Wan arpent from de shore.

Moral
Now all good wood scow sailor man

Tak’ warning by dat storm

An’ go an’ marry some nice French girl

An’ leev on wan beeg farm.

De win’ can blow lak’ hurricane,

An’ spose she blow some more,

You can’t get drown on Lac St. Pierre

So long you stay on shore.