Mark Despault, 2014
Mark spent three years working on this tune. The idea of having it begin and end with a "death bed confession" by Lockwood was inspired by James Keelaghans great song Cold Missouri Waters.
D G D G
Come all ye lads who yearn to go on the Great Lakes for to sail
BM F#M EM A
Hear my song of the lost ship Speedy and her sad and fateful tale
D G D G
As I am cursed through all of my days, no peace I fear I’ll know
BM F#M EM A D
‘Til I join those souls, in the waters below of Lake Ontario
As I near my end you’ll not know me but Lockwood is my name
A simple man of small renowned and little wealth to claim
And of this tale I must relay, that my spirit may be saved
Of those lost souls who sank with her and haunt me to my grave
T’was in the year 1804, the story had begun
In the dark of eve on Scugog isle that a murder had been done
Although I I was not near there, I swore I saw a fight
Where the native Obgetonicut, had taken John Sharp’s life
Bridge 1
G F#M A Bm
So aided by the Farewells, we chased him down that eve
G D Em A4th
And brought him forth to justice and Colonel Givens leave
G F#m A Bm
So then both chained and captured he would be held for trial
G/B D/A A4th A2nd
His fate thus sealed by my own words his honour thus reviled
The trial would be held upon the shores near Presqu’ile Bay
The Speedy was the schooner that would voyage down the lake
To carry judge and jury, court officers and crew
East from Muddy York she’s sail, the prisoner to his due
Was it fate or was it God that stopped me on that night
For I chose to join the Farewells for the journey to the bay
No I did not board the Speedy nor hear of her sad fall
Until we reached our journeys end amidst a mighty squall
Bridge 2
But God alone would know the storm that hit the lake that night
That shook her beams and tore her sails and drove her out of sight
No sign of crew or cargo no bodies ever found
And on my very soul will bare the mark of those who’d drowned.
Repeat 1st verse