Dry dock owners and ship repairers South Shields
All ships coming into the River Tyne
Have to sail past your dock gate
But a reprieve for your company
Has just come a little too late
A collier in your middle sized dock
A Danish trawler in your small
But once these two vessels set sail
There will be no work for your yard at all
Now at a slow and steady pace
The workers start to leave your yard
Life for a lot of South Shields people
Again will be very, very hard
Your little launch nymph
On the river we will no longer see
Taking your workers about the river
Which always seemed to be very busy
Soon two of your docks are filled in
With only the big one to go
Now it also has its dock gates removed
Which people think is a poor show
Soon the cranes and the rest of the sheds
They too are all now wrecked
Another part of the River Tyne
Attacked by that awful praying insect (Government)
The ship yard lads say that tomorrow
Will be the start of another day
More than another share of sadness
Has again come South Shields way
When you look at the old yard
Even though it is pulled to the ground
If you listen very carefully
You will hear eerie but happy sounds.
Editor’s note: Brigham and Cowan closed in 1982 after almost a century of activity