The legend lives on from old Sandy Hook down
though this boat doesn't have quite the history.
The Captain, it's said, didn't rise from his bed.
And that's only the start of the mystery!

With a load full of folks, and some Cuban rum, no joke
did the Morro Castle leave Havana.
For Manhattan it steamed, but nobody did dream
that the ship would burn just like Atlanta.

The ship was the pride of the cruising Ward Line
which commissioned it in 1930.
In harbor so snug, it received loads of drugs
which give it a repuation dirty.

Concluding some deals with guys who said, "Don't squeal
or you'll be sleeping with all the fishes"
the ship disembarked in Caribbean dark
and to reach New York safe was their wishes.

Good Robert Wilmott, his charge was quite a lot
'cause the ship was under his commanding.
Not just rum-run stunts, illegal immigrants
the men who hired him were demanding.

According to lore, in nineteen thirty-four
on the 9th of September, past midnight
the Captain, poor shlub, found dead in his bathtub
and a fire belowdecks soon did light.

William Warms, first mate, had a lot on his plate
as the fire raged, he had a big mess.
But the company creeps, those guys were really cheap.
Warms knew they wouldn't pay for SOS.

The lifeboats were sent, but eternal lament
for just six passengers were a-boarding
'cause the cowardly crew out for "me" and not "you"
were of vessels for rescue just hoarding.

Does anyone know where survivors did go?
Two hundred twenty-four were still living.
But a hundred, a score, and then seventeen more
were all gone, and should we be forgiving?

The blaze in the night was a terrible light.
People on the boardwalk thought it scary.
It seems Bruce Springsteen did not write of this scene
though it took place off Park of Asbury!

"Savannah" saved some, the "Lukenbach" a few
and the "Monarch of Bermuda" many.
The "Paramount" retrieved some who couldn't believe.
But for crimes, the courts didn't charge any.

And farther downland, where casinos now stand
watch the wiseguys so greedy and rotten.
And the slot machines go as the blue-hairs all know
with the old shipwreck nearly forgotten.

In a musty old hall, on computer I typed
to get details of this tragic vessel.
And be it so uncouth, we may never know the truth
of the fire aboard Morro Castle!

The legend lives on, though some would keep it down
of the ship off the boardwalk, a-burning.
And why, it is said, did those people get dead?
The full story, we'll never be learning!