E. A. Horton, The [Laws D28]

DESCRIPTION: The E. A. Horton is taken by Canadian authorities and her crew imprisoned. The captain leads his men on a daring escape; they recapture their ship and sail home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine)
KEYWORDS: sea prison escape
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 8, 1871 - Canada seizes the E. A. Horton (then in Halifax harbor) on a charge of fishing inside Canadian territorial waters
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws D28, "The E. A. Horton"
Ives-FolksongsFromMaine 11, "The E. A. Horton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 239-241, "The Schooner E. A. Horton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, pp. 314-315, "The E. A. Horton" (1 text, filed as item III under "The Horton's In!")
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, pp. 226-227, "The E. A. Horton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 144, "Seizure of the E J Horton" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 753, EAHORTON*
Roud #1840
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Horton's In" (subjet: the escape of the Edward A. Horton)
cf. "The Escape of the Horton!" (subject: the escape of the Edward A Horton)
NOTES [112 words]: Although this event was celebrated enough to inspire at least three songs, reading the description of what happened on p. 212 of Beck-FolkloreOfMaine makes it sound as if the Americans were more in the wrong than the Canadians. Possibly the Edward A. Horton was innocent of the charge against her, but that should have been settled by diplomacy, not international piracy. Which is what this was, although the songs don't ever use the word.
For extensive background on what happened, see pp. 303-310 of Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, an essay entitled "The Story of the Return of the E. A. Horton." Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors also have fairly extensive notes.- RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: LD28

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