Flemings of Torbay, The [Laws D23]

DESCRIPTION: Two "fine young men" of Torbay are cast adrift for six days. They are unconscious by the time they are rescued by the coal ship "Jessie Maurice." Cared for by the captain, they are taken to Quebec
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke (1851-1930)
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland)
KEYWORDS: sea rescue fishing
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May, 1888 - Rescue of the two Torbay sailors
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Laws D23, "The Flemings of Torbay"
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 141, "The Fishermen of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 912-915, "The Flemings of Torbay" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 76, "Flemings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 115, "The Flemmings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, pp. 202-203, "The Flemings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, "The Fishermen of Newfoundland; or, the Good Ship Jubilee" (1 text, 1 tune): pp. 50-31 in the 2nd edition
DT 322, FLMTORBY
ADDITIONAL: 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. 4, "The Flemings of Torbay" (1 text)
Roud #1821
RECORDINGS:
Charles Dawe, "The Flemings of Torbay" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Cyril O'Brien, "The Flemings of Torbay" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
NOTES [173 words]: Schooners left manned dories in different strategic places to fish. Getting lost from the schooner was almost a constant hazard. - SH
According to the notes in Creighton-Nova Scotia, the end of this story was not quite as happy as the song might imply; the two brothers both had their legs amputated. This was also reported by Murphy. Creighton's informant said that Queen Victoria herself paid for artificial legs, but Creighton could not verify this; the Flemming brothers were dead and Johnny Burke no longer remembered the details.
This sort of thing happened on a much larger scale on occasion; see especially the notes on "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)."
Although most sources attribute this to Burke, it is not in his most extensive collection, Johnny Burke (William J. Kirwin, editor), John White's Collection of Johnny Burke Songs, Harry Cuff Publications, St. John's, 1981. Nor did James Murphy, who worked with Burke, credit the song to him. For a brief biography of Johnny Burke, see the notes to "The Kelligrew's Soiree." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: LD23

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