So Far From the Clyde Lyrics

Lyric discussion by haxorchick 

Cover art for So Far From the Clyde lyrics by Mark Knopfler

I've been trying to understand the story. What does the hangman do? What happens to the crew aboard the ship? Also, does it remind anyone else of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald? (There is the obvious ship theme but also the tone and the melancholy feel.)

A skeleton crew - the bare minimum necessary to transport it - takes the ship on its final voyage. Once it reaches the "killing ground", usually a strip of Indian Ocean coastline, the captain and crew depart and the wrecking crew - symbolized by the hangman - takes over. It's a well-planned business deal; the ship having outlived its usefulness is broken down for scrap and recycling. No lives are lost, other than the ship itself's. On the other hand, the Edmund Fitzgerald was a fully crewed working ship, lost in a storm on Lake Superior with...