Ludington Salmon

Steamer 43 Lyrics

With my gear all packed I'm ready to go, I can hear that mighty whistle blow.
Living on that Steamer 43.
I hated to leave, to leave my wife, Oh my friends what a different life!
I've got 20 days before I go back home.
Then I'll have 8 days that I can call mine, but still it seems like a very short time!
Living on that Steamer 43.

I miss my kids and the home-cooked meals but a job is a job, no matter how I feel.
The work is not hard and there's nothing there to fear.
But Oh how I hate to put up the gear with the weather so stormy this time of the year,
And that's really when I begin to hate this life.
There will always be men on the sea, away from their homes and families.
Living on that Steamer 43.

When it's Sunday morning and my family's in church, I'm right here doing my work!
These are the things that makes a sailor's life bad.
Oh, I lay awake, late at night thinking of my darling wife,
Living on that Steamer 43.

There will always be men on the sea, away from their homes and families.
These are the things that makes a sailor's life bad.
Yes, I lay awake late at night thinking of my darling wife,
Living on that Steamer 43.

By Pete Host, 1970. Pete was a lookout watchman and coalpasser aboard the Badger (unofficially known as Steamer 43, the Spartan being Steamer 42).
(From S.S. Badger Pictoral History. See also Ludington News article from 1970).


Pete became a Christian in 1957. He currently resides in Jacksonville, FL, where he does airbrush work and is involved in full time ministry. For more on Pete's life, click here.  For his Facebook page, click here.