The Ship that Never Returned

1884 sheet music cover by S. Brainard's Sons

The composer Henry Clay Work in a W. S. B. Matthews engraving.

"The Ship that Never Returned" is a ballad written and composed by Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) in 1865. It was first published in September that year by Root & Cady, whom Work had collaborated with throughout the American Civil War.

It narrates the departure of a ship from a harbor that never come back, with a mother and the captain's wife lamenting the loss of their loved ones who were on board.

The song is best known nowadays for melodically inspiring later country tunes—most notably, the 1903 ballad "Wreck of the Old 97", which would become first million-selling country music hit. The melody was also adapted in Walter A. O'Brien's 1948 campaign song "Charlie on the MTA".

Composition

Original lyrics

On a summer's day, when the wave was rippled
By the softest gentlest breeze,
Did a ship set sail with a cargo laden
For a port beyond the seas.
There were sweet farewells there were loving signals
While a form was yet discerned;
Though they knew it not, 'twas a solemn parting
For the ship, she never returned.

CHORUS
Did she never return? She never returned,
Her fate, it is yet unlearned,
Though for years and years there were fond ones watching
Yet the ship she never returned.

 
Said a feeble lad to his anxious mother,
"I must cross the wide, wide sea,
For they say, perchance in a foreign climate,
There is health and strength for me."
'Twas a gleam of hope in a maze of danger
And her heart for her youngest yearned,
Yet she sent him forth with a smile and blessing
On the ship that never returned.

(CHORUS)

"Only one more trip," said a gallant seaman,
As he kissed his weeping wife,
Only one more bag of the golden treasure
And 'twill last us all through life.
Then I'll spend my days in my cosy cottage
And enjoy the rest I've earned;
But alas! poor man! For he sailed commander
Of the ship that never returned.

(CHORUS)

Henry Clay Work

Work as a songwriter

Henry Clay Work had gained much popularity during the Civil War, writing tunes for Root & Cady.

Lyrical analysis

The song concerns a ship that left a harbor and never came back. A reason for the ship not returning is not given in the lyrics. However, the line "and their fate is yet unlearned" implies that the reason is unknown.

Ballad style

Traditional folk ballads, as is "The Ship that Never Returned", incorporate a distinct melodic structure, composed of "ballad stanzas". These comprise verses in multiples of four—so, quatrains or octets—linked by an ABCB or ABAB rhyme scheme. Metrically, the lines singularly alternate between iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter—hence, common meter. Sometimes, spondees and pyrrhics feature, typically in the first metrical foot.

Work's composition abides by these conventions, reflected by the octet-based structure (and a quatrain for the chorus), the ABCB rhyme scheme, and the common meter. His songs are distinguished for a euphonic melody generated by the choice of words. Consider the structural analysis of the first four lines:

Scansion and rhyme analysis of verses 1–4

Stress	˘	˘	/	˘	/	/	˘	/	˘	/	˘
Syllable	On	a	sum-	mer's	day,	when	the	wave	was	rip-	pled,
Stress	˘	˘	/	˘	/	˘	/
Syllable	By	the	soft-	est	gent-	lest	breeze,
Stress	˘	˘	/	˘	/	/	˘	/	˘	/	˘
Syllable	Did	a	ship	not	sail	with	a	car-	go	lad-	en
Stress	˘	˘	/	˘	/	˘	/
Syllable	For	a	port	bey-	ond	the	seas.

Influences

Parodies of the song started appearing by 1888 owing to its popularity.

"The Train that Never Returned" is one of the early parodies of Work's song:

Did she never return? No, she never returned,
Though the train was due at one.
For hours and hours the watchman stood watching,
For the train that never returned.

Carl Sandburg's collection American Songbag recorded an adaptation from the Kentucky mountains. The tune formed the basis of "Wreck of the Old 97", about a 1903 train wreck; recorded by Vernon Dalhart in 1924, and many others afterward, the song became the first million-selling country music hit.

Later, the melody was adapted in "Charlie on the MTA", created in 1948, as a campaign song for Walter A. O'Brien about a man unable to alight from a Boston subway train because, rather than change all the turnstiles, the M.T.A. added an exit fare—Charlie did not have the extra nickel to get off the train. The Kingston Trio recorded the song in 1959 (as "M.T.A.") and had a hit with the recording in the same year.

Bibliography

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• Carder, P. H. (2008). George F. Root, Civil War Songwriter: A Biography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3374-2.
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• Finson, Jon W. (1994). The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505750-3.
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• "Profile: Henry C. Work". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
• Randolph, Vance (1980). Ozark Folksongs. Vol. 4. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-0300-0.
• Shepherd, John (2003). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1. New York City, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-6321-5.
• Silber, Irwin (1995). Songs of the Civil War. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28438-7.
• Work, Henry C. (1923). Work, Bertram G. (ed.). Songs of Henry Clay Work. New York: United States: Little & Ives.