The Tilbury Twenty five years on the waterway, is a long, long time Rising at three when the sun's still asleep and all the canal can be mine! But watching the dawn on that cold autumn morn, it never occurred to me That day would see the death of me and the end of the old Tilbury Chorus : Move on, Tilly, let's finish the job and we're free If only I'd known, that cold dreary morn, held the fate of the old Tilbury Pullaway from the wharf up in Islington, Masters' Boswell, Edwards and me Point the bow west and we'll follow the rest of the train, in the old Tilbury As we moved through the ark, towards Regent's Park with the 'Ready', the 'Jane' and the Dee The explosion occurred and everyone heard, the end of the old Tilbury The wife will be waiting, expecting me home, busy preparing the tea She was not aware, a great crash in the air, was the end of the old Tilbury Five tons of powder, a boat made of wood, the hold ran with petrol and tea They'll never know why the flames in the sky, meant the death of the old Tilbury The story tells the story of a canal barge explosion on the Regent Canal in 1874. More detail here. Recorded on :