up that night, and the ship sank at about four o'clock in the morning on February 13. The ship's chief mate, 59-year-old Robert M. "Bob" Cusick, was trapped in the deckhouse as the ship went down. His snorkeling experience helped him avoid panic and swim to the surface, but he was left to spend the night alone on a partially deflated lifeboat he eventually reached, in water barely above freezing and air much colder. Huge seas washed over him, and each time he was not sure that he would ever reach the surface again to breathe. Battling hypothermia, he was tempted to allow himself to fall unconscious and be washed away. Just then he remembered the concluding stanzas of "The Mary Ellen Carter". As Cusick tells in One Warm Line, a documentary about Rogers, he started to sing it and soon was alternately shouting out "Rise again, rise again" and holding his breath as the seas washed over him. At seven o'clock that morning a Coast Guard helicopter spotted him and pulled him to safety. Only three men of the thirty-four who had been aboard survived the wreck. After his ordeal, Cusick wrote a letter to Stan Rogers telling him what had happened and crediting the song with saving his life. In response, Rogers invited Cusick to attend what turned out to be the second-to-last concert Rogers ever performed. Cusick lived another 30 years, and his testimony and activism in the aftermath of the accident spurred far-reaching maritime safety reforms. Published versions Rise Up Singing pp. 203–204 References "June 2, 1983: Dundas singer-songwriter Stan Rogers dies in airline disaster" , story of the wreck of the Marine Electric by Bob Cusick (via the Internet Archive) External links Nathan Rogers singing "The Mary Ellen Carter" during the 2007 Summerfolk Finale 1979 songs Maritime music Songs about boats Stan Rogers songs