Middlesex Flora, The

DESCRIPTION: Bound from London in a storm, "the proud waves did beat her to staves, her name was The Middlesex Flora, and they did sweep our men to the deep." Strangers on the coast pick up the rich cargo. Captain James Bell and the lost crew of thirteen are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor shore
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1825: "Middlesex Flora of London was wrecked at Dundrum... en route from Barcelona to Belfast.... Twenty four were drowned." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v2, p. 25; Irish Wrecks Online site)
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland) US(MW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #63, pp. 2-3, "The Middlesex Flora" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 29, "The Middlesex Flora" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Ranson-SongsOfTheWexfordCoast, pp. 72-74, "The Middlesex Flora" (1 text, 1 tune)
MidwestFolklore, Ivan H. Watson, "Folk Singing on Beaver Island," Volume 2, Number 4 (Winter 1952), p. 248, "The Middlesex Flora" (reference only)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 254-255, 294, "The Middlesex Flora" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #3810
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(119), "The Middlesex Flora," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme of wreckers) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Downs
NOTES [33 words]: Christie: "The Editor was informed by a native of the Enzie, who died in 1847, aged 85 years, that he heard "The Middlesex Flora" sung by two sailors on the streets of Buckie about the year 1780." - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: Ran072

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