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The Ship that Never Returned
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Ship that Never Returned"[lower-alpha 1] is a ballad written and composed by Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) in 1865. It was first published in September that year by Root & Cady, whom Work had collaborated with throughout the American Civil War.
1884 sheet music cover by S. Brainard's Sons
The composer Henry Clay Work in a W. S. B. Matthews engraving.
It narrates the departure of a ship from a harbor that never come back, with a mother and the captain's wife lamenting the loss of their loved ones who were on board.
The song is best known nowadays for melodically inspiring later country tunes—most notably, the 1903 ballad "Wreck of the Old 97", which would become first million-selling country music hit. The melody was also adapted in Walter A. O'Brien's 1948 campaign song "Charlie on the MTA".