#00722
What Happened To The Southern Cross
(Gary Callahan)

See also: Southern Cross (Pamela Morgan)

And also: Wreck Of The Southern Cross
(Greenleaf/Yarrow)

And also: Southern Cross (Lehr/Best)
#2701: YouTube video provided by CDBaby
℗1996 ~ Used with permission ~

What happened to the Southern Cross?
In the same storm she was lost;
With a loss of a hundred and seventy-three,
To add to this terrible tragedy.

The Southern Cross was loaded down,
She was headed back to St John's town;
(Headed home, headed home)
Then she became long overdue,
Just where she was nobody knew, nobody knew.
Southern Cross, where are you?

The Southern Cross wanted to be first,
For some glory the captain did thirst;
(Headed home, headed home)
Tried his best to race the storm,
They would all be dead by morn, dead by morn.
All aboard the Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross was never found,
The captain and crew, they all were drowned;
(Headed home, headed home)
The want of glory spelled their doom,
Now they're in a watery tomb, watery tomb.
All aboard the Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross beneath the waves,
The captain and crew have watery graves;
(Headed home, headed home)
The want of glory, the greed of need,
Brought death to them at great speed, at great speed.
All aboard the Southern Cross,
All aboard, all were lost.

####.... Everett Adams [b.1940] of Grand Falls-Windsor, NL ©1996. Performance rights administered by SOCAN. All rights reserved ....####
Recorded by Gary Callahan (Death On The Ice, The Ultimate Price, 1996 CD, trk#6, Newsflash Sounds recorded at Renaissance Music, both of Grand Falls-Windsor, NL).

From Wikipedia:
The vessel was originally commissioned as the whaler Pollux at Arendal, Norway in 1886. Under the explorer Carstens Borchgrevink on December 19, 1898 Pollux made its first Antarctic expedition where it made marine history by breaking through the Great Ice barrier to the unexplored Ross Sea. Pollux was sold to Baine Johnston and renamed Southern Cross upon transferring to Newfoundland in 1901. Southern Cross participated in every seal hunt from 1901-1914.

NOTES:
The Southern Cross was lost in the spring of 1914, returning from the ice. 174 lives were lost with no trace ever found of the ship or crew. The crew of the Newfoundland was lost on the ice in the same storm, leaving about 252 dead in one month.

See more Gary Callahan songs.

See also by Everett Adams:

Death On The Ice (The Story)

Death, The Ultimate Price

Only For Jesse Collins

See more NL shipwreck songs.

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