A Maltese folk song by Georgina Camenzuli and her husband Nazzareno (Is-Simenza), recorded for the National Library of Australia, in 1997 by Barry York and Kevin Bradley at the Camenzuli's home in Fairfield Heights, Sydney. (ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW).
The song is an example of 'ghana tal-fatt' or a 'fact based song'.
Also performing are guitarists Joseph Mifsud (Il-Koko) and Vince Gauci (Tar-Rabat).
The 'Skaubryn' was a migrant ship that caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean en route to Australia in 1958. No-one drowned but an elderly man died from a heart attack. It was a traumatic and extremely frightening and dangerous experience, needless to say, especially for those, like the Camenzuli's, who were travelling with their young children.
They eventually made it to Sydney on the 'Roma'.
The recording of the song is part of an oral history interview held and preserved at the National Library in Canberra, Australia.
I am advised that Mr. and Mrs. Camenzuli are no longer alive but they indicated copyright ownership of the song when they completed the Rights Agreement for the Library.
I wish to thank Mark Caruana, historian of Sydney, for making the session possible in 1997.
The song is in the Maltese language.
The Saga of the Skaubryn originally appeared on the twin-CD package 'Maltese Voices Down Under', produced in 1998 by Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, and the National Library of Australia.
(Photo taken by Barry York on 29 September 1997)
I want to tell you of our adventure
And I hope that I don’t err
Whatever I say to you is real
And it happened to me, and to my husband and to our children as well.
My husband had a good job in Malta
And brought home a decent wage
He loved his work and was quite happy
Working as a chauffeur at Hal Far.
Our house was nice and comfortable
Full of furniture and hung with curtains
But I was always asking him
To take me to my parents.
And at last he said, ‘We’ll go
And make your wish come true
To make you completely happy
I shall take you to your mother and father’.
We went to the emigration office
To begin our preparations
And then did whatever was necessary
So we could emigrate to Australia.
My husband had to leave working early
About a month before we sailed
He had quite a lot to do
Selling the contents of the household.
When everything had been disposed of
We bought boxes and some luggage
And then we continued to make ready
Until our preparations were completed.
Well, the day finally arrived
For us to leave as scheduled
It was a day in March
The year, 1958.
The ship was called the Skaubryn
Very smart looking and rather large
The passengers numbered nine hundred
And consisted of adults as well as young.
We had been at sea a week
And then notice was brought to our attention
Everyone had to prepare
Because the ship had suffered a malfunction.
When we heard this alarming piece of news
We were inside our cabin
We were ready to go to bed
Because everyone was feeling tired.
I went and opened the door to inquire further
And saw people running to get upstairs
They were all crying and lamenting
That ‘the ship had caught on fire’.
When we reached the upper deck
After nearly suffocating
We discovered that in our haste we had left our lifejackets
Behind and had nothing to save ourselves with.
Then my husband said to me
‘Look after the children and keep them near you
So I can go below
And see if I can get them’.
When he tried below
He kept running into walls
He could see absolutely nothing
Everywhere was filled with smoke.
He returned and joined his family
Looking frantically all about
He said to me, ‘Let’s put our trust in God
And do as everyone else does’.
The lifeboats were then lowered
So people could be saved
We got into the first one
So that we could escape the ship.
While we sat in the lifeboat
The ship burned more fiercely
But we could not move the boat away
Because it had no oars or motor.
We remained in the boat for a long time
Praying and full of hope
Looking all about us
So that perhaps we could see a ship.
Some three hours later
We saw a light coming slowly towards us
‘It is a tanker’, people shouted
And it would not approach too closely.
The other boats were all seaworthy
And the minute they saw the tanker
They quickly made their way towards it
And everyone started to feel better.
Our boat remained unmoving
And we started to see sharks
We started to signal the other boats
To come and give us a tow.
Our boat was loaded to capacity
Amongst us being two nuns
There was also a man with us
Who suffered a heart attack and died.
The nuns thought that we would die by drowning
And looked after us with much affection
And to prepare us for the next world
They gave final ‘absolution’.
While we were drifting helplessly
Someone must have finally seen us
They brought a large rope
And pulled us along with it.
(CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW)
28 мар 2018
