This song was written in memory of the 16 people killed in the Penlee lifeboat disaster of 19 December 1981. On 19 December 1981 the Union Star was on its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to Arklow in Ireland carrying a load of fertilizer. On board was a crew of five led by Captain Henry Morton, who was also joined on board by his wife and two teenage daughters traveling home for Christmas. The Union Star developed engine failure eight miles east of the Wolf Rock, on the southern coast of Cornwall.

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