A bit of a departure (pardon the pun) for this post. Having read the book Beneath Dark Waters by Eve Lazarus, I felt compelled to write my first shanty. This meticulously researched book by the Vancouver-based writer and historian deals with the sinking and legacy of the Empress of Ireland, which collided with a coal ship in the St. Lawrence River in May 1914. It happened just 2 years after the sinking of Titanic and with greater loss of life, but soon fell from the headlines due to the onset of the Great War. I'll let the song tell the rest of the story, and I highly recommend grabbing a copy of the book for a deeper dive. Last year I had the good fortune of meeting the legendary Tom Lewis, and I had him in mind as I put pen to paper (or thumbs to iPhone). Writing the shanty was a lot of fun, a real word puzzle. The chorus came first followed by the verses (11 of them at 8 lines each). The challenge was to communicate the rather long story in as few words as possible and keep it to meter. I hope you like it. Do sing along!