A Real Steampunk Story
Mar. 3rd, 2019 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jtthomasA month and a half in the writing, with plenty of research thrown in. I wrote out the melody for this back in January; it's got some fiddle stuff to be done, and definitely a guitar line to be written. I'll be doing a bunch of recordings the Monday and Tuesday of spring break, so be ready for those whenever they actually get posted on Youtube. In the meantime, rough draft of the audio is on Twitter here.
REFRAIN:
The Carpathia didn't stand much chance at all,
Just some steam and some heat and her fourteen-knot crawl.
But the steam and the hope that no one would die
Meant she rescued that night seven hundred and five.
Just before Harold Cottam from the radio retired
For the night, Cape Cod sent him a message, inquiring,
Could he reach the Titanic? were her men overworked?
For the messages were many. And with Cottam irked,
He sat at his radio, called out her name
And his face on that night was never the same,
For there was a message from RMS Titanic
And in that moment Cottam discovered the meaning of panic.
"All Stations: Distress," Phillips' message came through.
Cottam ran to the bridge to alert the whole crew.
First Officer Dean thought the message a lie
And did not tell the captain, though many asked why.
So Cottam woke Rostram, Carpathia's captain
And told him the little that he knew had happened.
The pajama-clad captain to the bridge at once rushed
And as he issued orders, o'er his crew there fell a great hush.
Rostram ordered the ship turned and to start on their way.
Then he turned back to Cottam -- was it surely Mayday?
And Cottam confirmed, that was what he'd received
If Phillips or Bride could that night be believed.
All power from life support next was diverted
And Carpathia's passengers woke when they heard a
Commotion -- hot water and blankets and more,
Though if Titanic sunk, then the passengers knew not who for.
The Titanic was distant; the Carpathia was small,
But the crew knew they could beat that fourteen knot crawl
If it took all their men to accomplish the feat
For they all knew the rating was not to be beaten.
But they dodged all the icebergs and quickly gained speed
Making seventeen and a half knots to reach those in need.
And that boost in her speed meant she could save the lives
Of seven hundred and five workers, children and husbands and wives.
Now I'm not sure about you, but I think that the story
Of Carpathia's might should net some of the glory
For Rostram and Cottam's performance that night
Saved hundreds of lives and began to set right
Regulations and rules that someday grew to save
Many thousands of lives -- yet Carpathia's grave
Is a waterlogged reminder of the five men she lost
In a war those she rescued had to live through to understand the cost.
And with that, I've reached bingo on my Bardic card (which I'll definitely keep using until I've got blackout, mind you, and then make another).
REFRAIN:
The Carpathia didn't stand much chance at all,
Just some steam and some heat and her fourteen-knot crawl.
But the steam and the hope that no one would die
Meant she rescued that night seven hundred and five.
Just before Harold Cottam from the radio retired
For the night, Cape Cod sent him a message, inquiring,
Could he reach the Titanic? were her men overworked?
For the messages were many. And with Cottam irked,
He sat at his radio, called out her name
And his face on that night was never the same,
For there was a message from RMS Titanic
And in that moment Cottam discovered the meaning of panic.
"All Stations: Distress," Phillips' message came through.
Cottam ran to the bridge to alert the whole crew.
First Officer Dean thought the message a lie
And did not tell the captain, though many asked why.
So Cottam woke Rostram, Carpathia's captain
And told him the little that he knew had happened.
The pajama-clad captain to the bridge at once rushed
And as he issued orders, o'er his crew there fell a great hush.
Rostram ordered the ship turned and to start on their way.
Then he turned back to Cottam -- was it surely Mayday?
And Cottam confirmed, that was what he'd received
If Phillips or Bride could that night be believed.
All power from life support next was diverted
And Carpathia's passengers woke when they heard a
Commotion -- hot water and blankets and more,
Though if Titanic sunk, then the passengers knew not who for.
The Titanic was distant; the Carpathia was small,
But the crew knew they could beat that fourteen knot crawl
If it took all their men to accomplish the feat
For they all knew the rating was not to be beaten.
But they dodged all the icebergs and quickly gained speed
Making seventeen and a half knots to reach those in need.
And that boost in her speed meant she could save the lives
Of seven hundred and five workers, children and husbands and wives.
Now I'm not sure about you, but I think that the story
Of Carpathia's might should net some of the glory
For Rostram and Cottam's performance that night
Saved hundreds of lives and began to set right
Regulations and rules that someday grew to save
Many thousands of lives -- yet Carpathia's grave
Is a waterlogged reminder of the five men she lost
In a war those she rescued had to live through to understand the cost.
And with that, I've reached bingo on my Bardic card (which I'll definitely keep using until I've got blackout, mind you, and then make another).
