Robert Mackenzie

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 along
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 up to 60 miles
Our engines crankin’ heat
At 3:13 we took a wave
The wheelhouse left behind
The radar slipped beneath the waves
And we were runnin’ blind

[Bridge]
Hear me call across the waves
If I don’t come home tonight
I will make it home some day

[Chorus]
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
Our captain name of Phillips
Seekin’ shelter from the storm
Turned us South of Bete Grise Bay
By way of Keweenaw Point
But the winds were pushin’ at such a rate
We ended up driftin’ North
A wave broke over a knife of rock
Six Fathom Shoal

MacKenzie she was cut in half
The stern she rammed the bow
The men were caught in metal chunks
The flames burned out of hell
Stern kept runnin’ all the lights ablaze
Not one man would be found
Captain’s last transmission read
32 men down

[Bridge]
Hear me call across the waves
If I don’t come home tonight
I will make it home someday

[Chorus]
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
(Steel boats, iron men)
32 down on the Robert MacKenzie
Down Down Down Down Down Down Down Down

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