“Mariposa”

Description

The steamer Mariposa, loaded with general cargo and sheep, runs on shore at Grassy Point, Labrador. "A portion of her cargo is gone up and down the shore, Honestly and hardly earned by the people of Labrador"

Supplemental text

Mariposa
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

From MacEdward Leach, Folk Ballads & Songs of the Lower Labrador Coast,
#79, p. 206. "Sung by Peter Letto, Lance au Clair, July 1960."

On the twenty-fourth of September in the year of ninety-five,
'Twill be a memorial day for us as long as we're alive.
Early on that morning, a steamer ran on shore;
There's a place called Grassy Point on gloomy Labrador.

(3 additional stanzas)

Notes

Leach-Labrador: "The general attitude toward wrecks was summed up for me by one man, who said, 'If the good Lord sees fit to wrack a vessel, we hope it'll be hereabouts; we can use anything on board.'" - BS

Historical references

• Sep 27, 1895 - Mariposa, sailing from Montreal to Liverpool sinks in the Strait of Belle Isle at L'Anse Au Clair (source: Northern Shipwrecks DataBase)

Cross references

• cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme)
• cf. "The Teapots at the Fire" (theme)
• cf. "The Middlesex Flora" (theme)
• cf. "The Irrawaddy" (theme)

References

1. Leach-Labrador 79, "Mariposa" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. ST LLab079 (Partial)
3. Roud #9980
4. BI, LLab079