The Smell of the Oil
verse 1
In March of nineteen hundred and sixty seven
From the Gulf a great tanker set sail
One hundred and twenty thousand tons of crude oil
Round the Cape of Good Hope bound for Wales
CHORUS 1 -
The smell of the oil and the unceasing toil
When the birds and the rocks turned black
When the mighty Torrey Canyon went aground, went aground
And the Seven Stones broke her back.
verse 2
She risked the strait passage twixt Land’s End and Scilly
To make port at the top of the tide
To pass safely to westward, her captain weren’t willing
Saw the rocks to late to turn aside
CHORUS 1
verse 3
With hope for her salvage three tugs steamed from Holland
Titan, Utrecht, and Stentor
Then a blast from below caused the death of a Dutchman
The oil it continued to pour.
CHORUS 2
verse 4
A thick black slick like a creeping curse
Spewed forth from the depths where her tanks had burst
All the ships spraying detergent for the oil to disperse
Made the slaughter underwater many many times worse
verse 5
The Navy sent their Buccaneers and Sea Vixens
With RAF Hunters as well
Their bombs and their rockets
Burnt the oil and then sank her
The great tanker slipped under the swell.
CHORUS 1
verse 6
To Cornwall’s aid came fire brigades
From Wales and from England
And troops, at last help was at hand
They tried but they failed;
They strove to no avail.
To scrape the black sludge from the sand.
CHORUS 1
verse 3
That spring all the papers told tales of black beaches
Cornwall would see tourists no more
But the hot summer of ’68 brought salvation
For life had returned to the shore.
