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The Mary Ellen Carter by Stan Rogers, a song about a mishandled workboat that went down in a storm, raises the hair on my neck.

The real-life Marine Electric sank in a storm off the east coast, and one of the few survivors, chief mate Bob Cusick, said the lyrics of that song gave him the strength to survive - " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After Marine Electric was lost, Cusick went on to work for honest ship inspections and his testimony before Congress brought about the creation of the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers.

Kevin Costner's character in The Guardian was right. There is a legend of the sea that's saved thousands, but it's not superstition. It's an unknown story of how a Canadian folk singer sat down to a song he said wrote itself in about 20 minutes. The song reached across years and miles to first save Cusick, and then to save thousands through the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers.

If that's not enough, think about what Stan Rogers heard before he wrote his song, perhaps a garbled distress call through channels of time and space we don't acknowledge in our science and deterministic dogma.

After all, marine VHF radio is so prone to misunderstanding the Coast Guard always repeats your boat name back alphabetically. "Coast Guard Station Corpus Christi this is Sailing Vessel Bubba" will be answered with "Sailing Vessel Bravo Uniform Bravo Bravo Alpha, this is Coast Guard Station Corpus."

The real life Marine Electric was a coal ship, or collier. Did Stan Rogers hear a distant, hard to understand distress call? Did "Marine Electric, Collier" sound like "Mary Ellen Carter"?

I leave that discussion to crews of stormy, troubled midwatches. And there's more.

The Marine Electric sank, in part, because she lingered too long in heavy seas assisting another vessel in distress.

Stan Rogers died, in part, because he lingered too long on a burning plane, helping other passengers get out.

And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow

With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go

Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain

And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken

And life about to end

No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.

Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.