Betsy Mealy's Escape

DESCRIPTION: "As I roved for recreation in the springtime of the year, I met a noble fisherman, the day was fine and clear." He asks the girl to go with him to sea. When a storm comes up, he and the crew abandon her. She is rescued by Frenchmen, and curses his home
AUTHOR: John Quill (source: James Murphy, Old Songs of Newfoundland; also Michael Murphy, Pathways through Yesterday)
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (Murphy, Old Songs of Newfoundland); reportedly written 1849
KEYWORDS: sailor courting travel ship storm disaster rescue
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: James Murphy, editor, _Old Songs of Newfoundland_, James Murphy Publishing, 1912 (PDF available on the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 5, "Betsy Mealy's Escape" (1 text)
James Murphy, _Songs Their Fathers Sung: For Fishermen: Old Time Ditties_, James Murphy Publishing, 1923 (PDF available from the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 10, "Betsey Mealy's Escape" (1 text)
Newfoundland Stories and Ballads, Volume XII No. 1 (Summer/Fall 1974), p. 61, "Betsey Mealy" (1 text, derived from the 1927 edition of Doyle)
Roud #12530
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Star of Logy Bay" (tune)
File: JMOSN05

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