Tobias Murphy and Tom Hann

DESCRIPTION: Two captains, Murphy and Hann, are on St Mary's banks in a September gale. Hann's boat runs aground rounding Cape St Mary's and all hands are lost. Murphy's boat heads for North Harbour but two men are swept overboard.
AUTHOR: Peter Leonard
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (MUNFLA/Leach)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 110, "Tobias Murphy and Tom Hann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #28981
RECORDINGS:
Mr. Fitzgeralds, "Two Vessels Lost at Cape St. Mary's" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
NOTES [123 words]: Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou: "According to Aunt Carrie Brennan, this sea tragedy occurred in 1878" - BS
1878 was indeed a bad year for storms and storm losses -- in 1879, the governor would comment on the heavy losses of ships in 1878 (Shannon Ryan, The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914, Breakwater Books, 1994, p. 300), but I've yet to find an account of this particular tragedy. The story would be easier to trace if the song had the names of the ships rather than the captains....
Peter Leonard is credited with at least four songs in the Index, "The Schooner Annie," "The Hole in the Wall," "Soup Supper in Clattice Harbour," and "Tobias Murphy and Tom Hann," none of which seem to have been very well known.- RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: LeBe110

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