The Clifton's Crew

written by Pat Bonner of Beaver Island.  The Clifton was a whaleback steamer, 
of very striking appearance.

You have heard of many happenings since last year first began,
The crimes and troubles caused by war, from Italy to Japan.
But sorrow had not filled our hearts till the news it came around
That the steamer Clifton, she was lost, and all her crew were drowned.

It was on the dark September day, the last they'll ever know
Off in the sea sailed the Clifton, loaded deep with stone,
With her derricks stored securely, and her hatches battened down,
she was last seen passing down the straits, for Detroit she was bound.

It was in northern Lake Huron, she steamed way out of sight,
For to seek her destination, and to battle with the night.
We thought that our companions would survive the stormy tide.
Lake Huron's waters conquered them on that unhappy night.

As night grew on with darkening clouds, the winds were shifting south,
With a heavy sea from the southwest and a downpour of heavy rain.
With a terrible din, the thunder crashed and lightning split the view,
Where darkness in its fury dwells in the desolation grew.

As time went on the with foaming seas her cargo shifted then,
And hope began to vanish then among those thirty men.
The crew had all got orders from the captain to the mate,
For to wear their lifebelts through the night on that foundering ship of fate.

They departed early, we know not when the fatal hour came,
But the waters of Lake Huron, they've claimed many a mother's son,
And home today new orphans prayed and mourned their fathers too,
Who had lost their lives that stormy night among the Clifton's Crew.

We had hoped at first it was not true and wished them safe from harm,
For a ship can seek for shelter from the fury of the storm.
But it's where Lake Huron widens, there's no sheltered port in view,
That's where the Clifton she went down with her cargo and her crew.