Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813

transcribed at

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392781]

Fair Bruckless Bay for many a day
For fishing was renowned,
And their fishes folk all round the coast
Come to this favoured ground. 

For herrings in shoals frequent these shores
In spring and autumn too
And fishermen reap a harvest rich 
And labour many a crew

Well nigh a hundred boats were seen 
At anchor in the bay,
And crews all busy at their nets
While herrings around did play.

The day was fair as fair could be,
With scarcely any breeze,
And nothing showed which could portend
A storm and lashing seas

The men did smoke and chat and joke
About the withered hag, 
Who pestered them most every morn
For herring for her bag.

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392782]

Full long they bore her patiently
And gave of what they got,
But now the[y] were unanimous
That she’d received her lot.

No more would they be pestered by
Her curses and her prayers.
A stern refusal did she meet
That morning at the piers.

No matter how they treated her
She’d always ask for more
And never boat did land a fish
But she was on the shore. 

They’re now resolved for once and all
No tribute more to pay
To witch or hag with creel or bag
While fishing in the bay.

The sun’s ring dips the twilight falls
And peace hangs all around.
The oars are launched, the boats speed out, 
To gain the fishing ground.

The nets are shot, oars stowed aboard
The crews discuss the weather

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392783]

Far colder now the night winds blow, 
And skippers wonder whether

T'were better for them haul their nets
Or bide a little longer.
The sky grown dark, hides every mark
And winds are waning stronger.

How fares it now with the withered hag
Who vengeance drive did threat.
On the struggling sea beat fishermen,
Who did her curse beget.

She’s in her dingy cabin, with
Her little female slave
Preparing all her hellish charms
Gainst the fishers on the wave.

“Fill to the brim with water lass
That tub beside the door
And in it float that wooden “kap”
A lying on the floor”

“Now rest awhile and dare not speak
While I my charms prepare
To wreak my vengeance on the crew
Who poor old Bid would dare”

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392785]

"Tis time, think I you take a peep
what happens in the tub"
"O Mistress mine the lapping waves
Against its sides do throb" 

"Tis well, tis well, my charm works,
I’ll try it o’er again.
The fishermen will now repent
I’m glad ‘twill be in vain."

"Begone my lass and look again
And tell what change has been"
"The kap’s capsized the water’s foam
O say what can it mean".

"What can it mean thou stupid wench,
The storm has smote the fleet.
That’s what it means thou silly lout
And that is just and meet"

"Now ope the door and tell to me
What goeth on without"
"The storm is up, the sea is white
The raging waves do shout"

“Tis well my lass ‘twere bravely done,
My work is well nigh o’er.

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392786]

We’ll now depart, be seen no more
Near Bruckless cursed shore”.

And now they’re gone whence no one knows
The ghoulish deed is done
‘Tis sad the tale that will unfold 
At the rising of the sun

How fares it with the fisher folk
Athwart the briney main
Alas there’s many a hardy wight
Will ne’er be seen again.

The storm swept down with lightning pace,
The wind a gale did blow,
The little craft were overwhelmed
They could not run or row

The fishers most were stranger folk
Who did not know the bay.
Mid rocks and reefs and hidden shoals
They cannot find a way.

What cruel terrors there were seen
No human tongue can tell
What cries of pain, of help, in vain
On the bleak black night did swell.

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392787]

Some boats went down like lumps of stone
When the storm first did smite
Some lived a while in a helpless plight
Few weathered through the night

At length it lightens in the east,
The day at last is come, 
A day of sorrow pain and woe
In many a storm lashed home.

The storm is spent, it’s fury o’er
Its havoc it has brought
There’s many a wanderer on the beach
To find what harm’s wrought.

Amid the creeks and rocks and sands
A hurried search is made,
For its dead remains of Kith and Kin 
That may therein be laid.

Oh heavens! it is a ghastly sight
That here the eye doth meet,
Father and mother, son and wife
Their drowned dead do greet.

Lashed on the sea-weed stiff and stark
Their battered bodies lie

The Great Drowning in Bruckless Bay - February 12-13 1813  [duchas:4392788]

Who yester eve were filled with live
O God! had they to die. 

The sky is rent with cries and groans
Of loving parents and kin;
Who gather up their dead ones bones
Who’ve paid the debt of sin. 

How many perished in the waves?
How many still alive?
Alas ‘tis sad nay far too bad
Death claimed eighty five

From Teelin bay to Inver quay,
Wherever fishers dwell
There’s grief and woe in many a home
Which only time will quell.

From far and near came mourners drear
Their last respects to pay
To the luckless, lowly fisher folk
Who died in Bruckless Bay.