Away From the Roll of the Sea






  The fishing season is winding down, as is normal for this time of year, and with the end of the season comes the foul weather that fall brings. For the past few days we've experienced some thirty knot winds in Icy Strait, with higher gusts. A lot of the boats that were fishing the outside coast have come in to fish Homeshore, but with almost no protection from the winds, everyone was forced to seek shelter in town. There are boats tied up to the floats from Petersburg and Wrangell, Juneau and Angoon and Sitka and of course Hoonah and I don't know where all else. Boats with names like the Trisha Marie, Loretta Ann, Corvus, and Sea Fire. They're all shapes and sizes, and most of the ones that came in from the weather are trollers, like myself. It's interesting to see the different shapes, especially on the old wooden ones. They're all unique. I happened to be listening to some music the other night on U tube and came across a song titled Away From the Roll of the Sea. It was sung by a young lady named Sarah Copus, who is the vocal part of the new age group 2002. Anyway, I thought I would copy the lyrics down. They seemed to capture the feeling of these boats seeking shelter from the storm.

 Away From the Roll of the Sea

Small craft in a harbor
That's still and serene
Give no indication
What their ways have been
They rock in their moorings
All nestled in dreams
Away from the roll of the sea

Their stern lines are groaning
A lullaby air
A ghost in the cuddy
A gull in the spar
But never they whisper
Of journeys afar
Away from the roll of the sea

Oh, had they the tongues for to speak
What tales of adventure they'd weave
But now they are anchored to sleep
And slumber alee

Come fair winds to wake them tomorrow we pray
Come harvest a-plenty to them ev'ry day
Till guided by harbor lights they're home to stay
Away from the roll of the sea

Away from the roll of the sea


Allister Macgillvray

I really like the lyrics and the music. Today the weather is a little better, so a lot of the boats have set sail again, some to go back to harvest the sea for the remainder of the season, and some going back to homes and loved ones whom they haven't seen for so long. I wish them Godspeed and good weather.

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