"At either Pump our Seamen pant for breath, "In dire dismay, anticipating Death; "Still all our powers th' increasing Leaks defy, "We sink at sea, no shore, no haven nigh: “One dawn of hope yet breaks athwart the gloom "To light and save us from a watery tomb; "That bids us shun the death impending here, Fly from the following blast, and shoreward steer. "Tis urged indeed, the fury of the Gale "Precludes the help of every guiding sail ; 66 And, driven before it on the watery waste, "To rocky shores and scenes of death we haste; "But haply FALCONERA We may shun, "And long to Grecian coasts is yet the run: "Less harassed then, our scudding Ship may bear "Th' assaulting Surge repelled upon her rear, "And since as soon that Tempest may decay, "When steering shoreward-wherefore thus delay? "Should we at last be driven by dire decree "Too near the fatal margin of the Sea, "The Hull dismasted there awhile may ride, "With lengthened cables, on the raging tide; "Perhaps kind Heaven, with interposing power, He said: PALEMON saw with grief of heart, And, chilled with horror, heard the Songs of hell. His wounded Spirit healed with friendship's balm, And bade each conflict of the Mind be calm. Now had the Pilots all th' events revolved, And on their final refuge thus resolved― When, like the faithful Shepherd who beholds Some prowling Wolf approach his fleecy folds, To the brave Crew, whom racking doubts perplex, The dreadful purpose ALBERT thus directs: "Unhappy partners in a wayward fate! "Whose courage now is known perhaps too late; "Ye! who unmoved behold this angry Storm "In conflict all the rolling Deep deform; "Who, patient in Adversity, still bear "The firmest front when greatest ills are near; "The truth, though painful, I must now reveal, "That long in vain I purposed to conceal : "Ingulfed, all help of art we vainly try, "To weather leeward Shores, alas! too nigh: "Our crazy Bark no longer can abide "The Seas, that thunder o'er her battered side; "And while the leaks a fatal warning give"That in this raging Sea she cannot live, "One only refuge from despair we find"At once to wear and scud before the wind: 66 Perhaps e'en then to ruin we may steer, "For rocky Shores beneath our lee appear; "But that's remote, and instant Death is here: "Yet there, by Heaven's assistance, we may gain "Some creek or inlet of the Grecian main; "Or, sheltered by some Rock, at anchor ride "Till with abating rage the blast subside: "But if, determined by the will of Heaven, "Our helpless Bark at last ashore is driven, "These councils followed, from a watery grave "Our Crew perhaps amid the Surf may save :— "And first, let all our axes be secured, "To cut the Masts and Rigging from aboard; "Then to the Quarters bind each plank and oar "To float between the vessel and the shore: "The longest Cordage too must be conveyed "On deck, and to the weather-rails belayed: "So they, who haply reach alive the Land, "Th' extended lines may fasten on the strand, “Whene'er, loud thundering on the leeward shore, "While yet aloof, we hear the Breakers roar : "Thus for the terrible event prepar'd, "Brace fore and aft to starboard every Yard; "So shall our Masts swim lighter on the wave, "And from the broken Rocks our Seamen save; "Then westward turn the Stem, that every Mast 66 May shoreward fall as from the Vessel cast. "When o'er her side once more the billows bound, "Ascend the rigging till she strikes the ground; hear aloft the dreadful shock 66 And, when you "That strikes her bottom on some pointed rock, "The dangerous business of the Deck to tend: 66 Planks, Gratings, Booms, and Rafts to leeward cast, "Then with redoubled strokes attack each Mast, "That buoyant lumber may sustain you o'er "The rocky Shelves and Ledges to the Shore: "But as your firmest succour, till the last "O cling securely on each faithful Mast! F |