INTRO: C5

VERSE:
          C5                                    A5      G5       F5
Well it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
       C5                F5                  A5                 G5
But to watch the deadly waters glide as we roll north to the 'Soo',
C5                                  A5       E5     F5
Wonder when they'll turn again and pitch us to the rail
    C5                  G5                F5
Whirl off one more youngster in the gale.

    C5                               A5     G5       F5
The kid was so damned eager. It was all so big and new.
C5            F5                  A5               G5
Never had to tell him twice, or find him work to do.
    C5                                A5     E5       F5
And evenings on the mess deck he was always first to sing,
        C5               G5                C5
Show us pictures of the girl he'd wed in spring.


CHORUS
      G5                                    F5                  C5
But I told that kid a hundred times "Don't take the Lakes for granted.
     F5                 C5                A5               G5
They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted."
      C5                D5             E5             F5
But tonight a red-eyed Wiarton girl lies staring at the wall,
        A5             G5          F5
And her lover's gone into a white squall.


       C5                                  A5     G5      F5
It's a thing that us oldtimers know. In a sultry summer calm
      C5                 F5               A5              G5
There comes a blow from nowhere, and it goes off like a bomb.
      C5                              A5       E5     F5
And a fifteen thousand tonner can be thrown upon her beam
          C5                G5              F5
While the gale takes all before it with a scream.

    C5                             A5      G5      F5
The kid was on the hatches, lying staring at the sky.
     C5               F5                 A5                  G5
From where I stood I swear I could see tears fall from his eyes.
     C5                                    A5        E5   F5
So I hadn't the heart to tell him that he should be on a line,
C5         G5                 C5
Even on a night so warm and fine.


REPEAT CHORUS
    
            C5                              A5   G5      F5
And I could feel her keeling over with the fury of the blow.
      C5                   F5              A5           G5
And I watched the rail go under then, so terrible and slow.
           C5                                    A5       E5      F5
Then, like some great dog she shook herself and roared upright again.
    C5           G5                 C5
Far overside, I heard him call my name.


FINAL CHORUS
(end final chorus with C5 instead of F5 )