Unknown - Lady Franklins Lament Lyrics

LADY FRANKLIN'S LAMENT

We were homeward bound one night 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 100 seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes roll

Through cruel misfortune they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice was drove
Where the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that could ever come through

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin among his seamen do dwell

And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long lost Franklin I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know that on earth my Franklin do live

Sir John Franklin set out to find the Northwest Passage in 1845
skeletons were found in 1859