I feel this song will compliment my previous project "Songs of Geogian Bay" and I hope to further develop the song into a video component as well, using whatever artwork I am able to make arrangements with to publish.
The timing for the release of the song and video fits well with the upcoming 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812 in which the "General Hunter" played a part.
I am ready to go into the recording studio shortly with a few other selected musicians and record the song. Other than a few word tweaks here and there, here are the lyrics for the song.
December 2011
Thanks to Ken Cassavoy at the Bruce County Museum, I have adjusted some lines to reflect accuracy of details about the General Hunter. Remembering of course that this song is an artistic view of the ship and it's story, it is not to be considered a qualified research document.
General Hunter
Two hundred years have past
Since they rigged General Hunter's mast
With the Union Jack flying proudly in the sun
Then the short draft brig could be seen
With the wood of her hull still green
As she slipped o're the sand and the rocks of the river St. Clair
In 1812 the States declared war
And they built many ships on their shore
With the Stars and Stripes flying proudly in the sun
The young men walked out their doors
"I'll return" to their mothers they swore
Then they fought one another in the name of the colours they bore
The Royal Marine was called into battle on Erie
To protect the Canadian soil from American greed
So they loaded their ships with guns 'till it made the boys weary
"General Hunter" was one of the six that made up that fleet
But fate would turn the tide
Make them a prize for the American side
And the Stars and Stripes took over the Red White and Blue
After the war in August sixteen
The "Hunter" was sent upstream
And she slipped o're the sand and the rocks of the river St. Clair
To the head of Lake Huron she sailed
But on return they met with a gale
And the "Hunter" was wrecked on the beach by the river Saugeen
The crew scrambled back to Detroit with the news they had lost her
Then returned to the wreck to see what they could reclaim
They took what they could and set fire to the rest then they left her
And the sand covered up what was left of the burnt out remains
Now a Town has begun to explore
The remains of that brig on their shore
With the Maple Leaf flying proudly in the sun
To unlock the mystery
Of "General Hunter's" history
Just below the sand on the beach by the river Saugeen
