Onion Honey
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onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Onion Honey
@onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
29 followers 32 following 13 posts
Mountain music fresh from the Grand River Valley

www.onionhoney.com
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anarchoshanties.bsky.social
anarchoshanties.bsky.social sea shanty stan account ⛵️ @anarchoshanties.bsky.social · Sep 11
144. Onion Honey - Hell or High Water

I was wondering if anyone had written a shanty about the Carpathia's heroic efforts, thinking I'd have to do it myself if no-one had yet

INCREDIBLY glad to say I've been beaten to the punch by a year. A musical retelling of the tumblr post done extremely well!
New Single from Onion Honey: Hell or High Water (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by onionhoneymusic
youtu.be
September 11, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
anarchoshanties.bsky.social
(3/3, fin)
It matters that they fought for those people. It matters that they cared, and it matters that they tried. It matters that they didn't stop. If it didn't matter, you wouldn't have read this far. QUEER prismatic-bell Follow "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do good now! Walk justly now! No one is expected to complete the work, but neither may any one desist from it." - Rabbi Tarfon, Ethics of the Fathers Carpathia embodied this saying. They failed to save all. They succeeded in saving some. This is all anyone could ask.
September 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
anarchoshanties.bsky.social
(2/3)
They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world. This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic's last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could. In total, 705 people of Titanic's original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors. At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less. I think the least we can do is remember them for it. mylordshesacactus Follow I can't begin to describe how happy and flattered and a little teary I am that this just broke 100k. I may be the actual only human being on Tumblr with a post this popular that I not only don't regret making, but am actually HAPPY whenever I notice a surge in its circulation. I never intended this to gain any traction at all (you'll notice there's no sources or anything-this was a personal ramble, prompted in good humor by a friend after I jokingly said that I wished someone would give me an excuse to cry about Carpathia on Tumblr so I could get it out of my system.) I literally expected to get, like, maybe 20 likes and a reblog, from friends, indulging me in my nonsense. It just....means a lot to me that it's touched so many people. I see a lot of tags to the effect of "HOW DARE YOU HURT ME LIKE THIS AND MAKE ME CRY ABOUT A BOAT" that are often really funny, but overwhelmingly the tags on this post are from people saving it for a rainy day, or remarking in a sort of quiet awe that they never even really thought about her role in the story-and God knows I never did, I learned it by complete accident much as most of the people who've found this post. And so many of you guys are taking strength and reassurance from the reminder not only that people are capable of amazing things together, but simply that kindness matters and that a simple, tiny act of compassion is never wasted. I'm just really glad to have been able to do that for some folks. If I can just add one personal note. I need to emphasize something I only touched on in the original post. I need to emphasize that Carpathia failed. A lot of the tags and comments have a tinge of...despair, or guilt, or wistfulness about things like this happening so rarely. Or inadequacy, or just being overwhelmed or unhappy about not being in a position to step up in a comparable way. And I want to gently bring up the fact that this is still the sinking of the Titanic. They did not get there in time. They did not save the ship. It can be argued that they may not even have saved a single life; we have no way of knowing. This was still a horrific maritime disaster mired in arrogance and incompetence and a lack of care.
September 11, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
anarchoshanties.bsky.social
This one's maybe a little on the ling side, but trust me, it's worth it. I've cried reading it multiple times.

(1/3)
mylordshesacactus Carpathia received Titanic's distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours. (Californian's exact position at the time is... controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic's distress rockets. It's uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.) Carpathia's Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic's aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it. All of Carpathia's lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once. I don't know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope. Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake-prepping a ship for disaster relief isn't quiet-and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets. And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support. Here's the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms-which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she'd done that, he asked her to go faster. I need you to understand that you simply can't push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless-it's difficult to maneuver-but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can't do it. It can't be done. Carpathia's absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can't-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half. No one would have asked this of them. It wasn't expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.
September 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
It's Bandcamp Friday! Check out our new EP Banjo Church, it's a good one!

onionhoney.bandcamp.com/album/banjo-...
Banjo Church, by Onion Honey
7 track album
onionhoney.bandcamp.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
It's release day! Check out our new EP Banjo Church on Bandcamp (or any of the streaming services of course)!

This is a collection of 7 of our favourite songs from our weekly Banjo Church live streams from 2020-2023.

onionhoney.bandcamp.com/album/banjo-...
Banjo Church, by Onion Honey
7 track album
onionhoney.bandcamp.com
July 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
🎶 Well, the van is packed, I'm ready to go
Just waiting here to close the door
Afraid it's packed so tight, I cannot see...

Van Tetris is complete, ready to head to Palmer Rapids Twin Music Festival for the weekend!
Well my van is packed, I'm ready to go Just waiting here to close the door Afraid it's packed so tight, I cannot see... The back of the van, in the driveway, packed up to the roof. All good! Safe, probably!
July 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Counting down the hours until the Banjo Church EP is out in the wild (on the internet)! onionhoney.hearnow.com
Banjo Church
onionhoney.hearnow.com
July 24, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
New EP Coming Soon!

July 25

Imagine my left hand 2" above, holding the chain on this stained glass window. Phone in my right hand, standing on train tracks like a maniac, frantically fighting the wind to get a picture on the perfect angle to line up the tracks with the glass. What we do for art.
Image text: Onion Honey - Banjo Church The image is a stained glass window with a green border, a banjo in the center, and pieces of multi-coloured glass all around. Behind the window is a set of train tracks going off into the distance, gravel is spread wide on either side of the tracks, and trees line the edges. Small buildings can be seen on the left. The sky is blue with a few white clouds.
June 29, 2025 at 7:34 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
NEW SINGLE!

This one's for all our fellow Windsor-Quebec City corridor inhabitants; all we who have lost part of our souls sitting in traffic on Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America. Someday maybe we'll get that high speed rail 🚄

onionhoney.hearnow.com/theyll-add-a...
They'll Add Another Lane to the 401
onionhoney.hearnow.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:40 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
We're playing the Tottenham Bluegrass Festival this year and made some videos talking about how excited we were!

But, as with most things musical, practice makes perfect, and there are always many mistakes before the finished product. Here are some of those mistakes! 🐝🪕
June 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
Today's venue is the Glen Morris United Church. The acoustics in here are awesome, but even better is just having the sun shine for the first time in awhile.
The Glen Morris United Church behind some trees and the glorious sun shining in a blue sky! It's pretty frikkin scenic
April 12, 2025 at 10:57 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Love this collection of folk songs referencing ruination day!
folklyrics.bsky.social Folk Lyrics in a Dangerous Time @folklyrics.bsky.social · Apr 14
Ruination Day
15/15 "Ruination Day, Pt. 2"
gillianwelch.bandcamp.com/track/ruinat...

Written by Gillian Welch with David Rawlings

This part additionally references "500 Miles" written by Hedy West (based on traditional material)

#MusicSky #folkmusic 🎶
And the great boat sank And the Okies fled And the Great Emancipator Took a bullet in the head... It was not December And it was not in May It was the fourteenth of April That is Ruination Day That's the day The day that is Ruination Day Gillian Welch [Image: light grey background with texture like fuzzy black and white photograph]
April 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Onion Honey
folklyrics.bsky.social
Ruination Day
3/15 "Hell or High Water"
onionhoney.bandcamp.com/track/hell-o...

Written by Esther Wheaton of @onionhoneymusic.bsky.social

Influenced by a post by Tumblr writer MyLordShesACactus, and "God Moved on the Water" by Blind Willie Johnson (based on trad material)

#MusicSky #folkmusic 🎶
Come hell or high water They ran and they prayed And they made them a miracle On Ruination Day Come hell or high water To curse or to bless Couldn't live with themselves If they did any less Come hell or high water When Titanic failed God moves on the ocean Carpathia sailed Onion Honey [Image: white font on deep blue background]
April 14, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
allofthebanjo.bsky.social
Today's that fateful day when the Titanic went down and the Carpathia risked it all to rescue the survivors. James Cameron shoulda done a movie about this story instead!

youtu.be/dD83s9DfLFg
New Single from Onion Honey: Hell or High Water (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by onionhoneymusic
youtu.be
April 14, 2025 at 12:06 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Radio debut on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo playing Spite, Rebranded this morning! onlineradiobox.com/ca/cbckitche...
CBC Radio One
Listen to CBC Radio One online
onlineradiobox.com
March 25, 2025 at 11:50 AM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Today's the day! Our new single — Spite, Rebranded — is out wherever you get your music!

It's a song about hope. And spite. And how sometimes they can be the same.

song.link/Spite_Rebran...
Spite, Rebranded by Onion Honey
Listen now on your favorite streaming service. Powered by Songlink/Odesli, an on-demand, customizable smart link service to help you share songs, albums, podcasts and more.
song.link
March 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
We are releasing a new single VERY SOON! Look for it in all the places on Monday :D
New Single "Spite, Rebranded" from Onion Honey releasing March 24, 2025
YouTube video by onionhoneymusic
www.youtube.com
March 21, 2025 at 6:47 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
Now playiiiiiing
February 15, 2025 at 4:55 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
We're headed to Elora to play a free noon-hour concert at the Gorge Cinema. I don't know how many people will come out, but we sure have Old Man Winter in attendance
February 15, 2025 at 4:21 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
band pups! BAND PUPS
allofthebanjo.bsky.social allofthebanjo @allofthebanjo.bsky.social · Feb 14
I have been cranky today, so here's a timeline cleanse for us all
Charlie (a white, brown, and black boxer/hound mix) rests her head on top of Toby's head (a black lab) on our very colourful quilt on our bed
February 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
band practice last night, woodshedding a couple of new songs we want to record next Monday

oof the timeline
February 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
onionhoneymusic.bsky.social
We kept talking about making a band Bluesky account (deactivated the other one after years of not posting) but IT IS FINALLY TIME
February 11, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Onion Honey
headcleanerstudios.bsky.social
February 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM