From: thdanks@gmail.com   
      
   On Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 4:13:28 PM UTC-4, Lyzette Celestite wrote:   
   > On Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 10:37:52 PM UTC-8, kassko...@gmail.com   
   wrote:    
   > > Sang it in scouts in Wyoming in the 80s with much love.    
   > >    
   > > We were told it was written by an old lady and after she died, the music   
   was found on her piano the next day.   
   > I was told by my elementary school music teacher that the song (or at least   
   the lyrics) was written by a little girl who died of cancer. The little girl   
   was said to love watching the barges on the Columbia River (so she would have   
   lived in Oregon or    
   Washington if this was true). There are some Portland hospitals near the   
   Columbia river, there are probably some in Vancouver as well (and other   
   smaller cities and towns in both states). It is certainly true that barges   
   travel the Columbia River and do    
   go out to sea directly from it. One commenter was confused by the red and   
   green lights for port and starboard; these lights function as turn signal   
   lights at night. While that isn't as urgent at sea, it is extremely important   
   to know which way a vessel    
   is turning in a river. I don't think a barge could actually make a full turn   
   in the Columbia River (I doubt it's wide enough), but those running lights   
   would still be required. Perhaps they could or do use those lights to indicate   
   on which side they    
   intend to pass another vessel (another extremely important thing to know). The   
   song was especially memorable to me because I've always believed she lived in   
   the area where I grew up. Whatever the real story is, it's a pretty little   
   song.   
      
   Hi,   
   I'm impressed my post from over 2 decades ago is still active. Yes, the story   
   of the sick girl is universal, although always moved to the location where   
   it's being told. I wonder if it's a girl because this song is best known among   
   Girl Scouts and Guides.   
   As to the lights, they're not turn signals such as on a car, which are only on   
   when signaling a turn, but on all the time at night so other traffic can tell   
   which way a vessel is moving. In the days before radios, other signals would   
   be shown or sounded    
   to signal intention to change course, but the running lights or sidelights are   
   always shown at night. In the past 20 years, I've also learned to sail tall   
   ships in busy harbors, so knowing about things like running lights has become   
   important. In fact I "   
   borrowed" the tune of Barges to write a song about what I've learned,   
   including that the red and green lights are masked so that they're only seen   
   from directly ahead and to the side (22.5 degrees abaft the beam, to be   
   exact.) So you can only see both    
   red and green lights on a vessel from one viewpoint. "Starboard shines green   
   and port is glowing red. Hey, Cap, that barge is dead ahead!"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)