5.
Farewell, farewell, thou gallant ship!
thy course will soon be o’er;
There are mournful hearts on board thee,
there are breaking hearts on
shore.
The mother mourned her sailor boy, the
maiden mourned her love;
And one, on deck, was musing on a cottage,
near the Dove:
But his features were unmoved, as if all
feeling lay congealed;
They little knew how soft a heart that
manly form concealed.
6.
Beware, beware, thou gallant ship! there’s
many a rock ahead,
And the mist is mantling round thee, like
a shroud around the dead.
The listless crew lay idly grouped, and
idly flapped the sail,
And the sea-bird pierced the vapour with
a melancholy wail.
So hushed the scene, they little deemed
that danger was at hand,
Till they heard the distant breakers as
they rolled upon the strand.
7.
The winds were roused, the mist cleared
off, the mighty tempest rose,
And cheeks were blanched that never yet
had paled before their foes:
For the waves that heaved beneath them
bore them headlong to the rock,
And face to face with death they stood,
in terror of the shock.
A crash was heard—the ocean
yawned—then foamed upon the deck,
And the gallant Drake, dismasted, on the
waters lay a wreck!
8.
On that rock they’ve found a refuge;
but the waves that dash its side
They know, must sweep them from it at
the flowing of the tide.
With the giant crags before them, and
the boiling surge between,
There was one alone stood dauntless midst
the horrors of the scene.
They watched the waters rising, each with
aspect of dismay;
They looked upon their fearless chief,
and terror passed away.
9.
There’s a gallant seaman battling
with the perils of the main;
They saw the waves o’erwhelm him
thrice, but thrice he rose again.
He bears a rope around him that may link
them with the beach:
One struggle more, thou valiant man! the
shore’s within thy reach.
Now blest be He who rules on high; though
some may die tonight,
There are more will live to brave again
the tempest and the fight.
10.
They gathered round their gallant chief,
they urged him to descend,
For they loved him as their father, and
he loved them as a friend.
’Nay, go ye first, my faithful crew;
to love is to obey,—
’Gainst the cutlass or the cannon
would I gladly lead the way;
But I stir not hence till all are safe,
since danger’s in the rear;
While I live, I claim obedience; if I
die, I ask a tear.’
11.
With a smile to cheer the timid, and a
hand to help the weak,
There was firmness in his accents, there
was hope upon his cheek.
A hundred men are safe on shore, but one
is left behind;
There’s a shriek is mingling wildly
with the wailing of the wind.
The rope has snapped! Almighty God!
the noble and the brave
Is left alone to perish at the flowing
of the wave.