Lord Franklin

Video Playlist Index
Songs Index 

This song refers to the Franklin Expedition of 1845 - 1848, when Sir John Franklin set out to seek a "northwest passage".

Thirty Nine voyages were launched to search for the lost expedition. In 1859 skeletons were found.

While surveying the Boothia Peninsula, Dr John Rae found the first clues to the Franklin mystery when he met an Eskimo who told him that he had heard stories about white men who had starved to death some years before near the estuary of the Great Fish River.

The Eskimos brought relics of Franklin's ill-fated expedition to Dr John Rae - including a decoration of Franklin's, and a small plate with his name on it, a surgeon's knife, silver forks and spoons, and a gold watch etc.

In recent times some of Franklin's crew were found, perfectly preserved, in the permafrost. When their remains were tested they were found to have suffered from lead poisoning, which is believed to have caused the bizarre behaviour that ultimately led to their demise. The lead had leached from the metal used to seal their canned provisions.

Scroll down to watch Videos

We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Alone in my hammock I chanced for to sleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
All concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

And as I was musing on yon foreign shore
I heard a lady - she did deplore
She wept aloud and to me she did say
Oh my dear husband he stops long away

For it's seven long years since three ships of noble fame
Caused my dear husband to cross the main
With a hundred seamen of courage stout
A northwest passage all for to find out

They sailed east and they sailed west
To find the northwest passage they knew not best
Ten thousand pounds would I freely give
If I knew on earth that my dear husband lived

There was Captain Parry of high renown
There's Captain Hoggs of Seamore town
There's Captain Ross and there's many more
I fear they are lost on yon foreign shore

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blows
The fate of my Franklin there's no one knows
I fear he is lost on yon foreign shore
Where he left his home for to return no more

Collected from Stephen John Lewis of Fleur de Lys, 1929 ("Ballads and Sea songs from Newfoundland" by Greenlea and Mansfield):

We sailed away down Baffin Bay
Where the nights and days were one
And the Huskimaw in his skin canoe
That was the only living soul

The ice king came with his eyes aflame
Perched on our noble crew
And his chilly breath was cold as death
It pierced our warm hearts through

I dreamed a dream I thought was true
Concernin' Franklin and his jovial crew,
That from old Eng-a-land they sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May.

Now 'tis more than any man can do
With heart undaunted and courage true
And many's wife is leaved to mourn
In grief and sorrow for their return.

There's Captain Austin from Scarboro town,
Brave Captain Ross of high reknown
And there's Granville and Penny and many a more
Have long been searching the Arctic shore.

In Baffin's Bay the whale-a-fish blow
The death of Franklin no one do know
Nor the death of Frank-e-lin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin along with his sailors do dwell.

You tender Christians I pray attend
To these few lines that I have now penned
Of Sir John Franklin and his brave band
Who've perished far from their native land

So listen now while I tell to you
The fate of Franklin and his brave crew
It is now nine years since they first set sail
With joyous hearts and a pleasant gale

In frozen regions to cruise about
A North West passage to find out

There was many a sad and an aching heart
As from their friends these brave men did part
To plough their way o'er the raging main
For fear they should ne'er return again

When six dreary years they had been away
Some other vessels without delay
Were sent to search for the missing crews
But alas of them they could hear no news

A gloomy mystery for nine long years
Their wives and children has kept in tears
In deepest anguish they did await
The ships sent out to learn their fate

Poor Lady Franklin in great despair
In anguish wild she tore her hair
Saying "Ten thousand pounds I'd give for news
Of my loving Franklin and his brave crews.

The government in this present year
Did pensions give to their families dear
But Lady Franklin did refuse the grant
Crying "Give me my husband - I no money want"

At length sad tidings of this brave band
Has reached the shores of their native land
By which we hear that they all are dead
Though suffering much ere their souls had fled

As through the frozen seas they pushed
Their ships by blocks of ice were crushed
And offering prayers for their babes and wives
Many brave souls did lose their lives

Forty poor creatures from a watery grave
With one of the boats their lives did save
And over the ice they now took their way
To reach in safety the Hudson's Bay

What horrid sufferings of pain and want
Those frozen regions no food did grant
At length - o horrid- for want of meat
Their dying comrades they had to eat

How horrid was the sight when found
Their limbs and bodies lay scattered round
The flesh knawed off from every bone
Oh may their souls to heaven have gone

Now for to finish and make an end
May God their families from want defend
And while their loss we sadly deplore
We hope such horrors to hear no more. 

Homeward bound one night on the deep
Rocked 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
Across the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes go

Through cruel hardships we mainly strove
Our ship on mountains of ice was broke
Only the eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one who ever came through

In Baffin Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin's lost with his crew as well

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

As we drew near to old England's shore
I overheard a fair maid comply
She wept out loudly and seemed to say
Oh I have lost Franklin who's far away

But yet they are but one ship of fame
Which bore my Franklin across the main
Five hundred seamen with courage stout
To find the northwestern passage out

To find a passage by the North Pole
Where lightning flashed and thunder rolled

Homeward bound one night on the deep
Swang in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamt a dream which I thought was true
Concerning Franklin and his bold crew

As we drew near to old England's shore
I heard a lady that did implore
She wept as loud and she seemed to say
Alas my Franklin is long away

Now since that time on ship of fame
It bears my husband across the main
One hundred seamen that I may name
To find the north western passage through

To find a passage to the North Pole
Where seas to rage and the loud thunder roars
Tis more than any a man can do
With hearts undaunted and courage too

A sad foreboding, they gave me pain
Since my long-lost Franklin has crossed the main
One hundred pounds I would freely give
To say on earth does my husband live

Now since that time seven long years have passed
Through manys the keen and a bitter blast
Threw over the graves where poor seamen fell
Their dreadful sufferings no tongue can tell

There's Captain Osborne of Scobrun town
There's Crumswell Perry of fiery renown
There's Captain Osborne and as many more
That's long been searching the Arctic shore

Now they sailed east and they sailed west
To Greenland's coast to where they knew best
Through hardships and dangers they vain did strive
And on the mountains of Fife where their ships were drove

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin nobody knows
Theres many the wife that is left to mourn
In grief and sorrow till they return

Video Playlist