©Stan Rogers

She went down last October in a pouring driving rain

The skipper, he'd been drinking, and the mate, he felt no pain

Too close to "Three Mile Rock" and she was dealt her final blow

And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low

   There was just us five aboard when she finally was awash

   We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost

   And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim

   That "The Mary Ellen Carter would rise again!"

Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend

"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end

But insurance paid the loss to us, so let her rest below!"

Then they laughed at us and said we had to go

   But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock

   She's worth a quarter million afloat and at the dock

   And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain

   And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

Chorus:

Rise again, rise again

That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men

Well those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end

Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

All spring now we've been with her on a barge leant by a friend

Three dives a day in a hard hat suit, and twice I've had the bends

Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow

Or I'd never have the strength to go below

   But we've patched her rents, plugged her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down

   Put cables to her fore and aft, and girded her around

   Tomorrow noon, we hit the air, and then take up the strain

   And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

Chorus

For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale

She'd saved our lives so many times, living throught the gale

And the laughing drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave

They won't be laughing in another day

   And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow

   With smiling beggars lying to you everywhere you go

   Turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain

   And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!

Chorus:

Rise again, rise again

Though your heart may be broken and life about to end

No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend

Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!