Bill Staines Lord Franklin (lady Franklin's Lament)
We were homeward bound out 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 sailors do sometimes roll
Through cruel misfortune they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice was drove
Where the Eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one who could make it through
In Baffin's bay where the whalefish blow
The fate of Franklin, no man may know
The fate of Franklin, no tongue can tell
For Franklin, alone, with his seamen dwells
And now my burden, it gives me pain
For the long lost Franklin, I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know that Franklin still did live
Homeward bound…
