7.  Barrett's Privateers:

About the singer/songwriter by Bruce Eder from www.windowsmedial.com.

"Stan Rogers came from Hamilton, Ontario, a six-foot-four poet who started out as a rock bassist before turning to folk music. With his rich voice, he used his music to call to life all of the wonder and mysticism of his native Canada. His singing is occasionally mistaken for that of Gordon Lightfoot, but it's huskier and earthier than Lightfoot's, and his repertoire -- made up of song cycles drawn from throughout Canada -- is also more tradition-oriented and more mystical. Rogers died in a fire aboard an Air Canada flight in Cincinnati, OH, in June 1983, leaving behind a half-dozen albums."

Photo taken by Kathleen from the Montigo Bay, Jamaca.

Lyrics:

    1.  Oh, the year was 1778,

          ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

         A letter of mark came from the King

         To the scummiest vessel I’ve ever seen.

 

Refrain:

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold.

We’d fire no guns, shed no tears.

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax Peer,

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

 

    2.   Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town

          ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

          For twenty brave soul all fisherman who

          Would make for him the "Antelope’s" crew

 

    3.   The "Antelopes" sloop was a sickening sight

          ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

          She had a list to the port and her sails in rags

          And the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags

 

    4.   On the king’s birthday we set to sea

          ("How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

          It was ninety one days to Montigo Bay

          Pumping like madmen all the way

 

    5.   On the ninety sixth day we sailed again

          ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

          When a bloody great Yankee hove in sight

          With our cracked four-pounders we made to fight.

6. Oh, the Yankee lay low down with gold

   ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

   She was broad and fat and loose in stays

   But to catch her took the Antelope two whole days.

    

7. Then at length we stood two cables away

   ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

Our cracked four-pounders made an awful din

But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in

 

8. Oh, the Antelope shook and pitched on her side

( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

Oh Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs

And the Maintruck carried off both me legs.

    9.  So here I sit in my twenty-third year

         ( "How I wish I was in Sherbrook now!")

         It’s been six years since I sailed away

         And I just made Halifax yesterday