The Ballad of Captain Logan
Pat Morgan was a captain, the tyrant of Moreton Bay
For every time a convict sinned he’d make that convict pay
He made them cower at his voice and tremble at his name
And many convicts died upon his bloodied flogging frame
It was a dark and dismal night outside old Brisbane Town
When Captain Logan rode alone and flagged a convict down
‘Good gentleman!’ he cried, ‘This just is not your lucky day.’
‘For while I breathe no man shall ever ‘scape from Moreton Bay.’
The wretch approached, his face a mask of dread, eyes dead and cold
With bony arm the captain’s stirrup firmly he took hold
He rasped, ‘Tonight O tyrant you’ll pay for your wicked deeds’
And with a yell he tried to pitch the captain from his steed
The horse reared up; the Captain cursed and snatched his hunting crop
He lashed the man but still he wouldn’t let the stirrup drop
For every time the crop came down to deal a blow unto him
It didn’t strike the man: instead the damn thing went straight through him!
Logan stared in horror at the wild-eyed apparition
There was no way to capture him in his present condition
The convict croaked, ‘Your time is short, though you extinguish my light
‘Before you’re old, my captain bold, you’ll join me in the twilight.’
The creature vanished, and all around of him there was no trace
Logan rode home, but could not erase the memory of his face
He lay awake in bed all night, a-staring at the ceiling
The phantom’s eyes before him swam, as dreadful grew the feeling
Captain Logan carried on, his rule still cruel and hard
But even tyrants aren’t immune to letting down their guard
Was it fatigue that let him down, or thoughts of ghostly moans
That saw him so forget himself that he was left alone?
The convicts all surrounded him, his heart swelled up with fear
They’d waited long for vengeance sweet against their overseer
With murder in their eyes upon the Fell Tyrant they fell
And in a minute or at most two they sent him straight to Hell
But Logan was a restless man, not given to relaxing
He found the lifestyle down below surprisingly quite taxing
And so he rose again to stun some convicts on their shift
Appearing on the riverside to ask them for a lift
And to this day he rides along the waterside in silence
Still searching for the men who ended his reign of fear and violence
And if you see him, in the Ipswich moonlight, you may shiver
At Captain Logan, seeking vengeance dark down by the Brisbane River!
Keep an eye on your local bookstore for more about Captain Logan, and other unholy spirits, in 2022.