Robert MacKenzie

Paul Gross - (32 down on the) Robert MacKenzie

32 men on a Great Lakes boat
Quit the pier at Thunder Bay
28,000 tons of coal
On a cold November day
800 feet and 10 more long
80 feet across
The steel mills of Detroit
Our destination through the frost

At 2 AM on the 2nd
Waves were runnin' up to 40 feet
Winds were blowing 60 miles
Our engines crankin' heat
At 3:13 we took a wave
Our wheelhouse left behind
The radar slipped beneath the waves
And we were runnin' blind
Hear me call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home some day

CHORUS:

(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie

A captain name of Phillips
Seekin' shelter from the storm
Turned us south of B?te Grise Bay
By way of Keewenaw point
But the wind was blowing at such a rate
We ended up driftin' north
A wave broke over a knife of rock
Six Fathom Shoal

Captain's last transmission read
32 men down
32 men down

Hear me call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home someday

CHORUS

Yes, I call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home someday

Info: Robert MacKenzie