Sinking of the “Growler”
common / backtracks
Sinking of the “Growler”
(Editor’s note: this poem and the accompanying drawings ran in the Late February 1972, Vol. 4, No. 12 issue of the Sugarloaf Irregular and is reprinted here in its entirety. ©The Original Irregular)
The following poem written by John Winn tells of an actual happening in Stratton on Trout Brook at the launching of THE GROWLER at 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning with about 40 witnesses who rolled on the lawn, holding their sides with laughter at the outcome.
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Oh the Growler was a fine craft
The world will know her well
A parting wave from Billy Jones
Became her fond farewell
When Billy Jones and Parker
Cast her off right down the quay
And sailed from Trout Brook Boatyard
On that well remembered day
So lets hear it for the Growler
The flagship of the fleet
The finest craft to ever float
On Flagstaff so deep
She’s a mighty vessel
‘Til they burst that champagne bottle
And she sailed out in the storm
On a full South Bristol throttle
Well the crowd they gave a cheer
How I wish I’d seen that Day
And the pilot he got loaded
For the journey so they say
And Parker Hall had painted
Fifteen coats upon her side
To give her a fine float
While departing on the tide
Al Scheeren the ships carpenter
He said “she’d float right fine
She’s braced with fine Maine timber
She’s caulked with pitch of pine
I swear I’d bust my gallouses
If ever she should leak”
But he didn’t count on upside down
Upon the watery deep
Parker Hall and Bill started
Sailin’ off down stream
The cheers from all those folks
Were loud as whistles blown by steam
And Billy climbed the wheelhouse
To return their proud salute
When a wave she caught her
Starboard, port and fore and aft to boot
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And she listed to one side
“Oh hold her Neddy, keep her up”
Parker vainly cried
But the Water kept a pourin’
O’er the side into the hold
And she slowly toppled over
Upside down so I was told
Those boys they went right down with her
Like captains of the fleet
They were trapped beneath the wheelhouse
While rescuers did leap
Into craft right handy
That they’d moored there just in case
And they paddled out to get them
At a record setting pace
Well they pulled the boys out
They tried to save the Growler too
While Billy Jones and Parker
Poured minnows from their shoes
They shook the water from the ears
And sadly wiped their eyes
And they watched the Growler as she
Slowly sank beneath the tide
The waves still come arollin’ in
On Flagstaff’s distant shore
And some folks say old Growler
Has never sailed no more
But some nights when the moon swings
Over Bigelow so high
A shadow slipping through the mists says
“Old Growler still alive”
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