Music: The Avett Brothers/Scott Yancey Avett/Timothy Seth Avett/Robert William Jr Crawford
(Mate)
Six bells, Sir. All's well.
Shall I mark the log?
(Captain) Do you see the phosphorus on the ocean there?
All glowing and green.
It's an omen, that.
(Mate) Sir?
(Captain) The glow in the waves there.
It's meant to be an ill omen.
A portent of witches above and tempests below: of cruel weather ahead.
(Mate) You believe in such premonitions?
(Captain) I'm a sailor, I believe in everything.
I was a cabin boy at eight you know.
Spent my life at sea, hunting the whales from one ocean to the next.
Wife and children left behind,
and no regrets for that if I'm honest.
My place was always here.
(Mate) Do you truly not miss the land, Sir?
(Captain) What am I on shore?
An old man with unsteady legs.
A tiny man.
Here I'm a giant.
Here I'm a man who faces down God himself.
You're not a seafaring man by nature.
You can't understand the great tragedy of the sea.
(Mate) Tragedy, Sir?
(Captain)
There is a sea, and I am a captain
Of something unknown
Waves high as mountains
There is a key, and there is a light
Here's to times that I catch it
May it last through the night
When the engine won't turn
When the fire won't burn
Like it did when we felt it
Deep in our hearts
You're the one reason why
I look up and smile
Wishing for love
And I'm ready to forge ahead
There is a sea, and I am a captain
Of something unknown
Waves high as mountains
There is a key, and there is a light
Here's to times that I catch it
May it last through the night
(Mate) You've found the life that suits you, Sir. That's a rare thing.
(Captain) Not that it matters, when all's said.
No one wants us anymore, my friend.
No one needs whale oil.
We have paraffin now and kerosene. Kerosene.
And a whole way of life has finished just like that.
And what do we whalers do then?
Go to port? Take up some landward trade?
Sell scrimshaw to the tourists?
Or do we just disappear?
Hell, what are we but useless men hunting a vanishing prey in a dying trade?
I'm as low as they come
I'm what shouldn't be done
Filthy and lost
Still up for trying
(Captain & Mate)
Untie the rudder
Guide them away
Take me I'll serve you
Take me I'll serve
There is a sea, and I am a captain
Of something unknown
Waves high as mountains
There is a key, and there is a light
Here's to times that I catch it
May it last through the night
(Captain) May it last through the night