The Scady Rocks - Folklorist

“The Scady Rocks”

Description

Three men and a girl from Cushendall are in Colonel Caufield's Maid of Youghal in a storm. The boat splits on Scady Rock near the Bridge of Toome over the River Bann. All are drowned. People mourn.

Supplemental text

Scady Rocks, The
  Complete text(s)

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The Scady Rock

From the recording by Robert Cinnamond (IRRCinnamond01: "Songs of
Comment" FOLKTRAX-157). Transcribed and with notes by John Moulden;
quoted with his permission. - BS

You people all of each degree
Come listen to my tale of woe
You all will mind a dreadful night
When the loud and stormy winds did blow.
 
Brave Colonel Caufield's pleasure boat [Probably properly Caulfield]
Was launched [Ulster = lanched] upon the stormy main
With three stout men and one young girl
And they all did meet a watery grave.
 
And this boat was strongly built
And the Maid of Youghal was her name
To Colonel Caufield she belonged
And noble was that man of fame.
 
And he sent her with his servant maid
In order to convey her home
But on the Scady Rock she split
Convenient to the Bridge of Toome.
 
Then the people gathered on the shore
You'd have heard their sighs and their dismal moans
And very soon you all will hear
Of the manhood of young Squire Jones.
 
The people both far and near 
Bewailed the fate of this young girl
We trust in glory she does shine
For she belonged to Cushendall. [Place in north-east Antrim]
 
And the captain's name was MacErlean
A well respected sober man
And he little thought he would be wrecked
Convenient to yon River Bann.

Notes

The description is based on John Moulden's transcription from IRRCinnamond01 included in the Traditional Ballad Index Supplement.

There seems to be a gap in the text since there is no follow-up to the lines "very soon you all will hear Of the manhood of young Squire Jones." Cushendall and Toome are in Co Antrim. - BS

Recordings

Robert Cinnamond, "The Scady Rock" (on IRRCinnamond01)

References