Willy March

DESCRIPTION: Willy is stranded on the ice and can walk no further. He sends his companion, who is the only other survivor of their group, to the Cape St. Francis lighthouse for assistance but Willy dies before help can return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (England, Vikings of the Ice)
KEYWORDS: recitation death disaster
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, "Willy March" (1 text): p. 80 in the 2nd edition
Blondahl-NewfoundlandersSing, p. 67, "Willie March" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, p. 107, "Williy March" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: George Allan England, _Vikings of the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great Newfoundland Seal Hunt_ (also published as _The Greatest Hunt in the World_), Doubleday, 1924, pp. 126-127, "Willy March" (1 text)
ST Doy80 (Partial)
Roud #7320
NOTES [58 words]: Cape St. Francis is north of St. John's at the mouth of Conception Bay. - SH
Despite being in Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, and "collected" by England in his sealing tales, I can't see any evidence that this is a sealing piece -- or, at least, that it comes from the offshore fishery. Possibly it is a tale of landsmen walking out to take seals. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: Doy80

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography