[ourmandave]

To me, the old cook was the hero of that song.

[possiblydrunk]

Yes!

  When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
  "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
  At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
  "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"

[bombcar]

That's the lyric Lightfoot changed when sung live, to take into account the more recent hypothesis on how it sank:

    At seven p.m. it grew dark; it was then

Which is nicer to the crew (doesn't imply it was a mistake on their part) but doesn't really quite flow as nicely.