Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Arthur Scammell singing The Six Horsepower Coaker. The folk song appeared on the A-side of a 1943 RCA Shellac 10" 78 RPM 'Private Record' Single. The B-side was Squarin' Up.
The song also appeared on Side-1 of a 1974 33 RPM LP album, released by the Audat Records Label titled My Newfoundland Art Scammel.
It was written by Arthur Scammell.
The Six Horsepower Coaker
You fishermen free that go forth on the sea
With your engines of various makes
This old jump spark of mine, I would take every time
You can keep all your new make and breaks
She was tied up with twine, there were bits of tarred line
'Round the timer to keep it in place
Her compression was weak and the air used to leak
Where the packin' was blown from the base
She was easy on fuel, but she kicked like a mule
For the screws on the beddin’ were slack
And we all of us swore, when she’d rise from the floor
We all feared that she’d never come back
So we lashed her with wire and a motor car tire
O, how we did labour and scote
And with posts on each side, we earnestly tried
To keep her from leavin’ the boat
This motor of ours has miraculous powers
One summer we broke our pump band
Now they cost quite a lot, so when she got hot
We cooled off that Coaker by hand
One evenin’ last Fall we went out to our trawl
Though it looked like ’twas going to blow
We turned to go in, in the teeth of the wind
With a cross handed dory in tow
Tom hove up the wheel, and he cussed a good deal
He cranked 'til he found of his heart
He tested the oil, examined the coil
But the devil, a bit, would she start
‘Twas comin' on night, with the seas feather white
When up to us rowed a small skiff
And a bedlamer boy with a cast in his eye
Kindly offered to give us a lift
The kid stepped aboard, with the air of a lord
His movements unhurried and slow
He noted the string and the window blind spring
But he got that old Coaker to go
Go, go, he made that thing go
At first he just ran her dead slow
She hasn't much speed, 'cause the oil don't feed
But he got that old Coaker to go
Just a poor homeless lad, he hadn’t a dad
And his name you may never have heard
But the boat swung about, as he opened her out
And she rose to the waves like a bird
So we shipped on that kid, and we’re sure glad we did
Now 'tis seldom we ask for a tow
And he gets a full share, which I think only fair
For getting that Coaker to go
Go, go, he makes that thing go
How he does it I’m sure I don’t know
We can race with the Clyde, and we’ll keep her 'longside
When he coaxes that Coaker to go
Arthur Scammell singing The Six Horsepower Coaker. The folk song appeared on the A-side of a 1943 RCA Shellac 10" 78 RPM 'Private Record' Single. The B-side was Squarin' Up.
The song also appeared on Side-1 of a 1974 33 RPM LP album, released by the Audat Records Label titled My Newfoundland Art Scammel.
It was written by Arthur Scammell.
The Six Horsepower Coaker
You fishermen free that go forth on the sea
With your engines of various makes
This old jump spark of mine, I would take every time
You can keep all your new make and breaks
She was tied up with twine, there were bits of tarred line
'Round the timer to keep it in place
Her compression was weak and the air used to leak
Where the packin' was blown from the base
She was easy on fuel, but she kicked like a mule
For the screws on the beddin’ were slack
And we all of us swore, when she’d rise from the floor
We all feared that she’d never come back
So we lashed her with wire and a motor car tire
O, how we did labour and scote
And with posts on each side, we earnestly tried
To keep her from leavin’ the boat
This motor of ours has miraculous powers
One summer we broke our pump band
Now they cost quite a lot, so when she got hot
We cooled off that Coaker by hand
One evenin’ last Fall we went out to our trawl
Though it looked like ’twas going to blow
We turned to go in, in the teeth of the wind
With a cross handed dory in tow
Tom hove up the wheel, and he cussed a good deal
He cranked 'til he found of his heart
He tested the oil, examined the coil
But the devil, a bit, would she start
‘Twas comin' on night, with the seas feather white
When up to us rowed a small skiff
And a bedlamer boy with a cast in his eye
Kindly offered to give us a lift
The kid stepped aboard, with the air of a lord
His movements unhurried and slow
He noted the string and the window blind spring
But he got that old Coaker to go
Go, go, he made that thing go
At first he just ran her dead slow
She hasn't much speed, 'cause the oil don't feed
But he got that old Coaker to go
Just a poor homeless lad, he hadn’t a dad
And his name you may never have heard
But the boat swung about, as he opened her out
And she rose to the waves like a bird
So we shipped on that kid, and we’re sure glad we did
Now 'tis seldom we ask for a tow
And he gets a full share, which I think only fair
For getting that Coaker to go
Go, go, he makes that thing go
How he does it I’m sure I don’t know
We can race with the Clyde, and we’ll keep her 'longside
When he coaxes that Coaker to go
