The Water Witch

From Corner Brooker Allison Crowe's album, "Newfoundland Vinyl II", comes this stirring song of a shipwreck and brave rescue efforts that occurred on November 29, 1875.

http://music.allisoncrowe.com/album/newfoundland-vinyl-ii

The Water Witch, a Brigus Schooner, was heading for its home port of Cupids, Newfoundland, (the birthplace of English Canada), when it ran aground near Pouch Cove, NL in a blinding snow-storm.

The historical facts, (which flow loosely in the song on certain points), can be found online thanks to a number of resources, including:

The Pouch Cove Heritage Committee site @ http://www.pouchcoveheritage.org/waterwitch.html

“The Disaster Song Tradition” webpage @ http://disastersongs.ca/1870s-water-witch

And, with more musical history, the ever-deep riches of Gery Deugaw’s “GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador” - http://wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/01/witch.htm

“View of Pouch Cove” ca. 1900, the photograph accompanying this music, is by Robert E. Holloway and preserved by Library and Archives Canada: PA-121936