Doerflinger took this song down from Captain Henry E. Burke of Toronto, Ontario (and formerly Lunenburg, Nova Scotia). Burke's tune was slightly altered from the one he gave for The Schooner Blizzard. Doerflinger identifies an Irish influence and Samuel P. Bayard says all of the airs trace back to the song "Lord Randal".

The story here concerns the Donzella some time before Burke joined her crew. She raced from Lunenburg to Ponce, Puerto Rico, against another Bluenose fore-and-aft-rigger, the Ceylon, and the latter won by a narrow ten hours. However, on the return trip, the Ceylon faced fierce gales which led to her wreck. The men escaped by lifeboat to Cape Breton Island.

Burke's time as mate on the Donzella ended in shipwreck occurring in February 1896 when the schooner Donzella was lost in Baccaro Harbor, Nova Scotia. In a snowy, violent gale, the anchors were lost and the ship drifted into the rocky reefs. The crew took to the lifeboat, but three men and Burke's dog froze to death before the vessel reached the shore.