Loryn's Due South Shrine - The Robert McKenzie


32 men on a Great Lake 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 a.m. on the second, waves were running 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 running blind

Chorus
Here me call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home someday
(Steel boats, Iron men) 32 down on the Robert McKenzie
(Steel boats, Iron men) 32 down on the Robert McKenzie
(Steel boats, Iron men) 32 down on the Robert McKenzie

A captain name of Phillips, seekin' shelter from the storm
Turned us south of Bete Grise Bay by way of Keewenaw Point
But the winds were pushing at such a rate we ended up drifting north
A wave broke over a knife of a rock six fathom shoal

The McKenzie she was cut in half and the stern she rammed the bow
Men were caught in metal jaws and flames burned out of hell
Stern kept runnin' all her lights ablaze, not one man would be found
Captain's last transmission read, 32 men down, 32 men down.

Chorus

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


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