32 down on the Robert Mackenzie

32 men on a Great Lakes boat
Quit the pier at Thunder Bay
28,000 tons of coal
On a cold November day
800 feet and 10 more long
80 feet across
The steel mills of Detroit
Our destination through the frost

At 2 AM on the 2nd
Waves [bad word]  up to 40 feet
Winds were blowing 60 miles
Our engines crankin' heat
At 3:13 we took a wave
Our wheelhouse left behind
The radar slipped beneath the waves
And we [bad word]  blind
Hear me call across the waves
If I [bad word] home tonight
I will make it home some day

(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie

captain name of Phillips
Seekin' shelter from the storm
Turned us south of Bete Grise Bay
By way of Keewenaw point
But the wind was blowing at such a rate
We ended up driftin' north
wave broke over a knife of rock
Six Fathom Shoal

Mackenzie she was cut in half
The stern she ram the baow
The men were calling metalljunk
Flames burned out of [bad word] Stern [bad word] on lights of blades
Not one man would be found
Captain's last transmission read
32 men down
32 men down

Hear me call across the waves
If I [bad word] home tonight
I will make it home someday

(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
Down Down Down Down Down Down Down Down

And they call across the waves
If I [bad word] home tonight
I will make it home someday

Yes, I call across the waves
If i [bad word] home tonight
I will make it home some day