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The Orpheus

Rudy Sunde
words and music © 1974

Musical notation and chords for Orpheus. Size = 7K

  1. Manukau Harbour's a haven safe
    From the raging storm,
    But Manukau Bar's a treacherous place
    Where many fine ships have gone down.
    The 'Orpheus' tried to take the bar
    Through the breaking waves,
    She struck a bank and there stuck fast
    And there she ended her days.

  2. The 'Orpheus' was a modern ship
    Powered by steam and sail,
    But her mighty engines could not save
    Her from her terrible fate.
    One boat only was got away
    To reach the Whatipu shore,
    Tbs steamer 'Wonga' southward bound
    Saved a few men more.

  3. The poor brave men did refuge seek
    On the mainmast high,
    The roaring waves swept over them
    And swept them all aside.
    One hundred and eighty nine men were lost
    A sad and bitter day,
    One hundred and eighty nine men were lost
    To lie in lonely graves.

Tune

1 K midi of this Orpheus tune.

TRAGIC LOSS OF HMS ORPHEUS ON THE MANUKAU BAR

8 February 1863

HMS Orpheus ran onto the sandbar at Manukau harbour with fatal consequences for 187 of the ship's company of 256.

Two years previously, in 1861, the Victoria, a steam corvette similar to the Orpheus, almost founded while crossing the same Manakau Bar.

In rough seas and gusty conditions, the ship grounded twice on the bar where she broached shortly after 1.30 in the afternoon. The guns were discarded but by six, the ship began to break up.

The Maori crew of the pilot boat had struggled manfully to take off the crew which acted with 'heroic resignation'. Commodore Burnett was among those drowned.

Orpheus had approached the middle of the bar where a channel was shown in the 1853 chart. The bar had moved considerably in a decade. This movement had been noted, and evidence showed that an ammendment notice had earlier been sent to Commodore Burnett.


The Orpheus on Record

CHANTS DE MARINS de l'Irlande au Pacifique,
Sea Shanties: from Dublin to Auckland
Vol 1, 1986, CD,

Four of the shanties were recently written in New Zealand by Rudy Sunde.

Leave Her Johnny, South Australia, Orpheus, 10,000 Miles Away, Nick Young, Trumpet Hornpipe, Donkey Riding, Across the Line, Philomena D, Drunken Sailor, Captain Matheson, Talcahuano Girls, Liverpool Joddles, Auckland to the Bluff, Tom's Gone to Hilo, Dead Horse Shanty, Hornpipes, Shore Whalers.

Musicians: Rudy Sunde, John Jones, John McGowan, Gavin Asher, Greg Whitcombe, Nigel Champion and Martin Blackman.

Choir: John Walton and members of the New Zealand sail training ship "Spirit of Adventure"


Rudy Sunde

New Zealand's interest in sailing ships suddenly surged in the 1970's, leading to the construction of several sail training ships and a renewed interest in singing shanties.

Rudy Sunde is the leader of The Maritime Crew, a group of Auckland-based singers of sea songs and shanties who entertain regularly at the Maritime Museum at Hobson wharf in Auckland. Their repertoire includes fo'c's'le songs, shanties and songs related to the sea and the sea-going life in all its shapes and forms. Rudy wrote this song in the 1970s, in the old sea shanty style.

Contact: maritime.crew(at)xtra.co.nz


Thanks

-to Francois Godet from Belgium, for his interest and for supplying information about the CD.


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Published on the web 15 June, 2002