THE MARY ELLEN CARTER

(by Stan Rogers)


She went down last October 
  in a pouring driving rain.
The skipper, he'd been drinking 
  and the Mate, he felt no pain.
Too close to Three Mile Rock, 
  and she was dealt her mortal blow,
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low.

There were just us five aboard her 
  when she finally was awash.
We'd worked like hell to save her, 
  all heedless of the cost.
And the groan she gave as she went down, 
  it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again.

Well, the owners wrote her off; 
  not a nickel would they spend.
"She gave twenty years of service, boys, 
  then met her sorry end.
But insurance paid the loss to us, 
  so let her rest below."
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go.

But we talked of her all winter, 
  some days around the clock,
She's worth a quarter million, 
  afloat and at the dock.
And with every jar that hit the bar, 
  we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

	Rise again, rise again, 
	That her name not be lost 
	to the knowledge of men.
	Those who loved her best 
	and were with her till the end
	Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

All spring, now, we've been with her 
  on a barge lent by a friend.
Three dives a day in hard hat suit 
  and twice I've had the bends.
Thank God it's only sixty feet 
  and the currents here are slow
Or I'd never have the strength to go below.

But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, 
  dogged hatch and porthole down.
Put cables to her, 'fore and aft 
  and girded her around.
Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air 
  and then take up the strain.
And make the Mary Ellen Carter Rise Again.

	Rise again, ...
	
For we couldn't leave her there, you see, 
  to crumble into scale.
She'd saved our lives so many times, 
  living through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her 
  to a sorry grave
They won't be laughing in another day ...

And you, to whom adversity 
  has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you 
  everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength 
  of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

	Rise again, rise again,
	Though your heart it be broken 
	and life about to end
	No matter what you’ve lost, be it 
	a home, a love, a friend.
	Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

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