Wexford Schooner, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer dreams of Kelly shot on Tara Hill. Then he dreams of "a schooner down from Wexford town cast on Wicklow's coast." Captain Laurence Murphy and the crew, who "have met a watery grave," are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Ranson-SongsOfTheWexfordCoast)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson-SongsOfTheWexfordCoast, p. 61, "The Wexford Schooner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #20518
NOTES [84 words]: Wicklow county is north of Wexford. - BS
I have this funny feeling that this refers to the 1798, with Kelly being "Kelly, the Boy from Killane," wounded at the Three Bullet Gate at New Ross. The wrecked ship may be the one by which Bagenal Harvey, the commander at New Ross, tried to flee; according to Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty, p. 268, Harvey was captured in a cave, though Pakenham doesn't mention a shipwreck. But this is only speculation based on very little information from the song. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: Ran061

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