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Jul 27, 2020
A wounded knight tries to wash his wounds and heal himself, but the birds all around him urge him to seek out the witch of the Westmoreland. He rides all night until, at last, at the very earliest of dawn, he comes to the lake. He commands his hound and hawk to hide until he calls them to his aid, then he readies his shield and throws in a handful of goldenrod flowers. The witch rises from the lake in the form of a centaur, with a pale woman's torso and a black horse's body. She wears a velvet blue dress wrapped with a silver chain. She bolts, but he calls his animals who capture her. She tells him to sheathe his sword, for she will heal him with the goldenrod. He lays with her. By the time the sun has fully risen, the knight is healed and is promised that "none can harm the knight who's lain with the witch of the Westmoreland."
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
"
For atop a wild breaker, the cracks in her frame
Spilled her black guts all across the wild Maine
And she limped away through an ocean of flame
Spilled her black guts all across the wild Maine
And she limped away through an ocean of flame
A "wild breaker" likely refers to a cresting failure (
). What happens is a vessel rides the crest of a wave; but, if the vessel is overloaded, the boat's ends that are left out of the water take on the full, out-of-water weight and the hull becomes damaged.
The Northumbria was a single-hulled tanker, meaning that if the hull was damaged, there was nothing to keep her cargo from spilling out. This was a design flaw that came with scaling up a smaller vessel without additional reinforcements. Spills and cracks became a recurring damage that the Northumbria suffered in its short career. The black guts are crude oil. I'm not sure about the "ocean of flame." There isn't easy access to any record of any of her spills actually catching fire, so I take this line to refer to her dumpster fire of a career.
The Northumbria was a single-hulled tanker, meaning that if the hull was damaged, there was nothing to keep her cargo from spilling out. This was a design flaw that came with scaling up a smaller vessel without additional reinforcements. Spills and cracks became a recurring damage that the Northumbria suffered in its short career. The black guts are crude oil. I'm not sure about the "ocean of flame." There isn't easy access to any record of any of her spills actually catching fire, so I take this line to refer to her dumpster fire of a career.
Jul 27, 2020
"
So come all ya good workmen, beware the command
That comes down on high from the desk of a man
Who's never held steel or torch in his hands
That comes down on high from the desk of a man
Who's never held steel or torch in his hands
The Northumbria was an ambitious project that was hastily thrown together. Every effort was made to cut corners in its construction, and its design was a scaled up version of a ship of a much smaller size. The planners behind the build didn't know what they were doing, so the physics behind putting such a large vessel in the water were ignored.
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020
"
Carpathia, Vengeance, celestial call
She was the tanker to out-size them all
From the banks of the Merci to the port of the Laul
She was the tanker to out-size them all
From the banks of the Merci to the port of the Laul
The RMS Carpathia and the HMS Vengeance were very large vessels with the RMS Carpathia and the Esso Northumbria both having been built by Swan Hunter on the Tyne. Both the Carpathia and the Vengeance were well-known and prestigious vessels. I could not find any record of anything called the "Celestial Call," but I assume it was another giant ship in the same area/built by the same people.
The Mersey River cuts through the west of England, and the "Port of Hull" is in the east.That line likely means "from shore to shore."
The Mersey River cuts through the west of England, and the "Port of Hull" is in the east.That line likely means "from shore to shore."
Jul 27, 2020
"
'Twas late 65 at the old wall sea yard
She was commissioned to haul the black tar
And built the Northumbria there on the bar
She was commissioned to haul the black tar
And built the Northumbria there on the bar
The Esso Northumbria was a crude tanker designed to haul crude oil. It was built in Wallsend on Tyneside, 1969.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esso_Northumbria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esso_Northumbria