The Oda G was written by Stan Triggs and is sung here by him. He recorded it on his 1961 Folkways LP Bunkhouse and Forecastle Ballads of the Northwest (FG3569).
In the LP’s liner notes Stan says:
“This is one of my own songs about the oldest tugboat still working on the coast. She was built in 1889 and was first named the Kildonan. Later the name was changed to the Polarking, then to Canso Straits, and then to the Volante. When I worked on her she was the Oda G. but now she goes by the name of the Valiant.”
A number of British Columbia tugboat songs have been written but, unlike many of the others, this one looks upon the material with a somewhat amused eye.
LYRICS:
1. Oh, come all ye jovial tugboat men
And listen unto me,
While I tell you a story of hardships and glory
Of a lusty old life on the deep, briny sea.
2. There once was a stalwart old tugboat,
Her name was the Oda G.,
And I’ll let you know, boys, at pullin’ a tow, boys,
There was no huskier tugboat than she.
3. She came off the ways in eighty-nine,
For storms she cared not a hang:
It was boasted around, ’twas the talk of the town
That she knew that old coastline as well as a man.
4. Now her mate was an expert at running the logs,
He ne’er seemed to come to no harm,
But he ran out of luck when he fell in the chuck
With a rusty old boom-chain wrapped ’round his left arm.
5. Her engineer was a lazy young tramp,
All day he did nothin’ but read;
On the fantail he sat on his young lazy prat
Till a big roarin’ wave swept him into the sea.
6. Her deckhand was paintin’ the bulwarks so fine,
Paintin’ so carefully,
But he met his fate when, to admire his paintin’
He took a step back and fell into the sea.
7. Now her skipper, he was a very fine man,
At seafarin’ he was a pip;
But without a crew, he didn’t know what to do,
So he grabbed up a lifebelt and abandoned the ship.
8. But the old Oda G., she kept tuggin’ along;
She towed those logs down to Long Bay.
The old Penny hurrayed for the money he saved-
And he sent her back north on the very same day!