Her Mighty Sails the Breezes Swell

DESCRIPTION: "Her mighty sails the breezes swell, And fast she leaves the lessening land." Many wave the ship goodbye, but it is never seen again. Many mothers grieve for their lost children. No one knows the fate of the ship
AUTHOR: Words: John Malcolm / Music: W. D. Brinkle, M.D. (source: Sheet music published by G. Willig, reprinted b y Godey's Magazine)
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (Sheet music published by G. Willig); poem written 1824 (so Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor death
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 45, "The Missing Ship" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Godey's Magazine_, Volumes 20-21, 1840 (available on Google Books) , pp. 234-235, "Her Mighty Sails the Breezes Swell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #27803
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship That Never Returned" [Laws D27] (theme)
NOTES [73 words]: Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors say the music of their version is "not attributed." It is not quite identical to the Brinkle melody in the WIllig sheet music (found in the Library of Congress collection), but most of it is close (it looks to me as if the singer leveled out some of the harder intervals). Lane/Gosbee's final verse is not in the sheet music, but it has the same puffed-up feeling; clearly it is from the same original. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LaGo045

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