National Poetry Month: C. Fox Smith

(by Diane Cooper, Museum Specialist)

A poet must master not only the ability to create images with words but also to create a cadence and a rhyme that does not sound sing-songy, forced, or contrived. A maritime poet must also master the language of the sea and the sailor and knew the ways of those who sail the seas. During the first half of the twentieth century, Cicely Fox Smith, mastered all of those skills to become one of the most enduring, and yet unknown, maritime poets Britain ever produced.

In 1899, her book of poetry called “Songs of Great Britain” appeared in the British literary markets to favorable reviews. By 1904 she had published her fourth volume of poetry earning herself a place in the book Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. The editor, Alfred H. Miles, had this to say about the young poet.

                        The publication of four successive volumes of verse by a writer who has
                        not attained to twenty-four years of age is surely phenomenal, and one

naturally looks for signs of haste and immaturity in work produced so

early and with so much rapidity. The work, however, if not perfect will

bear scrutiny, and its examination only increases one’s wonder at both

the quantity and the quality of the output.

Cicely (pronounced sigh-sli as in precisely) Fox Smith, born 1 February 1882 in Lymm, Cheshire, England, received her education at Manchester High School for Girls and obtained her sense of adventure wandering the moors near her childhood home.

Cicely chose travel to Africa as her dream, but in 1911 she settled instead for a trip with her mother, Alice Wilson Smith, and her sister, Margaret (Madge) Scott Smith, on a steamship bound for Canada where they visited her older brother, Richard Andrew Smith. Eventually Cicely ended up in the James Bay neighborhood of Victoria at the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Here she worked as a typist from 1912-1913, first for the BC Lands Department and then for an attorney on the waterfront.

Along the waterfronts of Victoria, Cicely Fox Smith found her maritime voice.  She roamed the wharves and alleys during her spare time, talked with residents and sailors, listened to their stories, and learned the ways of the sailor and the sea. She also haunted the local lumber yards with their docks where sailing ships still arrived in port to load lumber and then transport it around the world. The men who sailed these vanishing vessels shared their stories and love of the sea with her.

The knowledge she gained from these sea-going men permeates the maritime themed poems and prose she wrote after her return to England late in 1913, just before the outbreak of World War I. Publishing under the byline of “C.F.S.” or “C. Fox Smith,” her poetry concerning ships, the sea, and the sailors life lead many readers to believe that she was a sailor and, therefore, a man, who had spent years working aboard sailing ships. Initially she published her writings in numerous well-known magazines of her day, including Canada Monthly, The London Mercury, The Nautical Magazine, The Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement, The Daily Colonist (British Columbia), The Register (Australia), Nelson Evening Mail (New Zealand), and Punch. Later she republished most of these poems in her volumes of poetry.

Cicely wrote more than just poetry. During her lifetime she penned three romantic novels, numerous short stories and articles, as well as several books describing “sailortown.” As a compiler, she published a volume of traditional sea shanties she collected over the years and edited a collection of sea poetry and prose written by author authors. During the latter years of her life she wrote children’s sea stories with her sister, Madge, travel books, history books, a book about ship models, at least one biography titled Grace Darling, contributed and edited many collections, and contributed literary reviews to Punch magazine and the Times Literary Supplement. Her brother, Phil Wilson Smith, well-known for his etchings and oil paintings, illustrated many of her poetry and prose books.

In 1937 Cicely finally realized her life-long dream to visit Africa when the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company offered to sail her around the continent’s coast, with stops in many of the harbors along the way, as their guest. Her experiences during that memorable trip appeared in All the Way round: Sea Roads to Africa.

The Spectator hailed Cicely works as “combining a mastery of sea-lingo with perfect command of sea rhythms.” Other literary reviews of Cicely Fox Smith’s poetry and prose, which appeared in her 1919 publication Songs and Chanties, appear below.

“No one, not even Mr. Masefield, has written finer sea ballads or come closer to the heart of those who go down to the great waters.” -Spectator “The writer’s vocabulary of sea phrases is striking and characteristic; the technicalities proclaim a real sea lover, and the tone and colour are only excelled by the lilt of the verses.” –Navy “The sea songs have the breath and the sound and the motion of the waters in them.” – Manchester City News “It is not likely that many lovers of sea-songs have missed the voice of Miss Fox Smith, but if they do not know her ‘Songs in Sail’ let them read ‘Sailor Town’ – the dancing colours and fresh scents of the harbor, the rush of the sea and wind, the cheery pathos of the outward-bound, the sailor’s homesickness – all this is carried on the rhythm of her verses with a vividness hardly equaled by any other verse writer of the day.” – Times “In her I verily believe the quintessence of the collective soul of the latterday seamen has found its last resting-place, and a poignant voice, before taking its flight forever from the earth.” – Joseph Conrad

Cicely Fox Smith crossed the bar on 8 April 1954 at the age of 72, but her voice remains strong as her poetry and prose keep alive of the ways of the sailor and his sailing ships long after they have departed from the seas.

From her book Small Craft (1919):

Sacramento

‘Frisco City’s grand and gay

(Sacramento, Sacramento!)

And the roaring night’s as bright as day!

And many ships go, small and great,

In and out by the Golden Gate,

(And away O! Sacramento!)

Who was it called across the night?

(Sacramento, Sacramento!)

What was it flashed so keen and bright?

Who is it drives down ‘Frisco tide

With a six-inch blade deep in his side?

(And away O! Sacramento!)

Oh, don’t you see Blue Peter flying?

(Sacramento, Sacramento!)

Oh, don’t you hear the good wind crying?

Oh, don’t you hear the capstan chorus

And smell the open sea before us?

(And away O! Sacramento!)

We’ll miss you , running easting down

(Sacramento, Sacramento!)

With a following wind from ‘Frisco town:

We’ll miss you beating off the Horn,

One man less at the pumps forlorn

(And away O! Sacramento!)

No more time to spend on grieving

(Sacramento, Sacramento!)

All because o’ the man we’re leaving:

The salt tides drives his drowned bones

In and out o’ the Farallones

                                                            (And away O! Sacramento!)

Digging for Gold at the Research Center: Valentine's Day the Yachting Way

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

It’s Valentine’s season! Can’t you smell the chocolate in the air? You probably think we librarians and archivists are a cold calculating bunch, only thinking about classification systems and preservation methods but we feel love too! Why just the other day I came across a few items in a scrapbook that made my heart go all a-flutter. I’ve written about scrapbooks of the San Francisco Yacht Club  before, but while going through them recently to fulfill a reference request from one of our staff, I came across the drawings below and the poem which were just too sweet not to share with you, my beloved readers, on Valentine’ s Day..

Becalmed

 I’ve posted this photo before, but I’m bringing it back for a special Valentine’s Day rerun. I love the way the two courters  are staring into each other’s eyes. What plans are they making? Perhaps a walk along the boardwalk  later? Or first and last dance at the spring ball? It’s impossible to ignore the direct gaze of the other woman, as  she  beckons  you to sit next to her and have a cup of tea. Maybe you’ll be strolling down the boardwalk arm in arm with her later as well.

Engagements

Sweet and simple. There is nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in boats with someone you love… and a cherub.

Yachting

Not quite sure what all is going on here, but hey, a heart made out of rope! I guess there’s a man with a terrible haircut being hoisted aboard and some people singing and a pair of women’s legs. The couple in the middle seem to like each other though.

After looking at these images of happy couples perhaps you to now would like to woo someone.  Here’s a maritime themed love poem to help you out.

Source:

 San Francisco Yacht Club. Scrapbooks. 1883-1885. Print.

Digging for Gold at the Library: Rime of the Ancient Mariner

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

"With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross" by Gustav Dore

If you’ve never read the poem, you can find it here from the Poetry Foundation, full text: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 

Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pathfinder

This document was created to assist people who are interested in learning more about the poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and related subjects.

At the San Francisco Maritime Research Center

Books

The Poem 

Sure, you’ve read Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but have you seen it illustrated?

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Milano: Edizione d’Arte “Felix,” 1966. Print.

Renowned illustrator Gustave Dore did the drawings for this edition. It is, as to be expected with Dore, marvelous and, due to the subject matter, frightening. FF PR4479 R5

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. New York: Heritage Press, 1945. Print.

This beautiful edition is illustrated by Edward A. Wilson with notes and an introduction by John Livingston Lowes, a Harvard professor who specialized in Coleridge. The printing quality is outstanding and this volume is perfect for reading aloud.

FF PR4479 A1 1945

  

Poetry and Criticism in General

This is just a sampling of the material we have on poetry collections and literary criticism. Please visit our online catalog: www.keys.bywatersolutions.com  to see more selections.

Boon, Kevin A., and Karen Markoe, eds. Reading the Sea: New Essays on Sea Literature. 1st ed. New York: Fort Schuyler Press, 1999. Print.

Fort Schuler Press is the academic press of the State University of New York Maritime College. One of the essays in this book is entitled: Blurred binaries: a mapping of excess and desire in S.T. Coleridge's "Rime of the ancient mariner"  by Royce W. Smith.

PN56 S4 R43 1999

Cole, William. The Sea, Ships and Sailors; Poems, Songs and Shanties. New York: Viking Press, 1967. Print.

Besides the “regulars” this collection includes works by people as diverse as Shel Silvertstein and John Updike.

PN6110 S4 C62 1967

Kobus, L. C. S. The Rhyme of the Modern Offshoreman. Houston: Seamount Book Co, 1975. Print.

I added this because it’s such an unusual book of poetry on such a specific topic. Titles included are “The Old Sea Rig’ and “The Offshore Platform.”

PN6110 S4 K4 1975

Williamson, W. M. The Eternal Sea, an Anthology of Sea Poetry. New York: Coward-McCann Inc, 1946. Print.

This compact volume includes over 100 poems. They are arranged by topics, such as “Nautica Mystica” and “A Child of the Sea”.

PN6110 S4 W6

Superstitions and Folk Lore

Bassett, Fletcher S. Sea Phantoms, Or, Legends and Superstitions of the Sea and of Sailors in All Lands and at All Times. Rev. ed. Chicago: Morrill, Higgins & Co, 1892. Print.

Also available full text on line here.

This book is cram packed with useful tidbits. If you ever come face to face with a kraken, you’re going to wish you had read this.

GR910 B31 1892

  

Beck, Horace Palmer, and Marine Historical Association. Folklore and the Sea. 1st paperback ed. Middletown, Conn: Published for the Marine Historical Association, Mystic Seaport, by Wesleyan University Press, 1977. Print.

Horace Beck is a notable Folklorist. A professor at Middlebury College in Vermont for over 20 years, this book is considered a classic in both folklore and maritime studies.  

GR910 B37

Clary, James. Superstitions of the Sea. St. Clair, Michigan: Maritime History in Art, 1994. Print.

This book Is an easy to read compendium of superstitions and stories from around the world.

GR910 C53 1994

Archival Material

We have many collections which include original poetry written by seamen. For an overview, please see this post on our blog, Full Fathom Five.  

Photographs

We have photosgraphs in the collection depciting sailors and albatross. Be on the lookout for an upcoming blog post of Full Fathom Five highlighting these and other images in our collection remeniscent of The Rime. 

Online

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner  from the Poetry Foundation

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner from Project Gutenberg

See the beautiful Gustave Dore illustrations  for the Rime in the University of Buffalo’s digital collections.

Smith, Laura Alexandrine. The Music of the Waters: A Collection of the Sailors' Chanties, Or Working Songs of the Sea, of All Maritime Nations. Boatmen's Fishermen's, And Rowing Songs, And Water Legends. London: K. Paul, Trench, 1888.

The University of Ottawa in Canada has gathered a useful list of literary criticism of the poem.

At Other Institutions

Here are some sources outside of the library which might be useful.

Books

Bloom, Harold. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Print.

This essay collection edited by noted critic Harold Bloom is part of the Modern Critical Interpretations series and even includes an essay by Camile Paglia.

Boulger, James D. Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Print.

Includes essays by Coleridge scholar John Livingston Lowes and the poet Robert Penn Warren.

Coleridge, Samuel T, Martin Gardner, and Gustave Doré. The Annotated Ancient Mariner: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. New York: C.N. Potter, 1965. Print.

This edition combines the drawings of Dore with the elucidation of scholar Martin Gardner.

Film

Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Dir. daSilva R. perf. Michael Redgrave. . West Long Branch, N.J: Kultur, 1984. Film.

The worldcat.org summary states: “A two-part program which examines the life of Samuel Coleridge from his orphaned childhood to how his friendship with William and Dorothy Wordsworth inspired him to write the rime of the ancient mariner. Part 2 consists of a visualization of Coleridge's epic poem - The rime of the ancient mariner.”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Dir. Jordan, Larry. Perf. Orson Welles.  Chicago, Ill: Facets Video, 1989. Film.

The worldcat.org summary states: “Using the classic engravings of Gustave Doré and a cut-out style of animation, the film follows Samuel Taylor Coleridge's long dream of an old mariner who kills an albatross and suffers the pains of the damned for it.”

Music

Iron Maiden. Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 1985. CD.                  

I couldn’t resist throwing this on here. The 13 minute long song stays faithful to the poem, even including passages that lead singer Bruce Dickinson eerily recites. Could Eddie be the Ancient Mariner?

Digging for Gold at the Library: A Mystery!

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

This month I wrote a story about poetry in our collection for both our blog and our Park website. While researching, I came across a delightful find, HDC 35 (SAFR 17607), The Captain Thompson Poems and Illustrations Collection. After seeing his charming drawings, I wanted to learn more about him so I went to the collection files. It turns out, there’s a bit of a mystery surrounding the documents. As far as I can tell, the images and poems were sent to us unsolicited. The name of the donor was not Thompson and apparently they sent the work with no background information. In the file, there are numerous envelopes we sent to the donors asking for more information which were sent back to us marked “return to sender: not at this address”. 

There is a letter in the collection (see below; it’s highly amusing), that may or may not be in the same handwriting as the poems (some letters look similar, some very different, but the letter looks to have been quickly jotted down and perhaps not as much care taken as with the poems.) The letter is signed by an Alec Macson,  Moeson or something like that who purports to be club secretary.  The other gentlemen who signed the letter are sometimes mentioned in the poems. There is no Captain Thompson mentioned in either the letters or the poems.

The ship the author  mentions, is “The good ship Kay” or simply “K”.  I checked the American Bureau of Shipping and Lloyd’s registers in the years around 1914- there are no listing for a ship that begins with K having either a Thompson or a Riess (the man often referred to in the drawings) as a master.  

I checked the California Digital Newspaper Collection for a “Captain Riess” with no luck. There were too many Captain Thompsons to be sure. None of the articles about the various Captain Thompson mentioned poetry or illustrations.

 I have a feeling though the poet is British, due to some of the language in the poems. For instance, sailors are “crossed and crabbed” He also mentions Lobscouse, which is a typical sailor stew common on British ships. Lastly, the uniforms look distinctly British. Perhaps the stripes are just meant to be blue shading?

Here are some of the poems and the letter.  If you recognize the style at all or the names and can tell us anything about this clever and talented author, please let us know.

Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day, a special day during National Poetry Month when people select a poem, carry it with them, enjoy it throughout the day and share it with others.

Are you looking for a maritime poem?  There are several from which to choose on our Maritime Poems for Your Pocket site, both classics and parodies, along with some recommended anthologies for further reading.

Don't have a handy printer?  Save the poem to your portable device and carry it around that way!

Digging for Gold at the Library: Poetry in the Archives

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

It’s National Poetry Month and I bet you thought I was going to talk about the Rime of the Ancient Mariner or something by John Masefield.  While that would be wholly appropriate it would also be something you have most likely seen before, perhaps even here.  As the purpose of my installments is to dig for things buried deep in the collections for you to see, I had a much better idea. I went into our archives and pulled some poems written by various seafarers and passengers for your enjoyment.  As opposed to the stereotypical idea of a sailor as somewhat brutish and dull, many sailors were curious, intelligent and in tune with the natural world; after all, they depended on a deep knowledge of not just the sea but what was going both above and below it to survive. They had long stretches to contemplate the world around them and their connection to it. It’s no wonder some of them turned to. For instance, here’s a poem by Captain Roy Moyes from HDC 235 (SAFR 17110) expressing the feelings of being becalmed both literally and figuratively.

                Becalmed

                Only the sea, motionless in calm

                Only the hope of a stirring breeze;

                There’s naught, but the depth’s alluring charm,

                Rippling reflections in placid seas-

                Only the sails and the dawning sun.

                Only the loss of the foaming run.

               

                Yet, deep in the soul the sea reflects

                In the light of questing, seeking thoughts

                The cause of its wonderful objects

                The gale, the calm, the loneliness wrought.

                All is still; there is no when, or how-

                Only the presence of the now.

                The day drifts on, and at evening fall

                Golden painted clouds drift idly by:

                The sea lies still; and over it all

                The awe of silence reigns far and nigh.

                Patient we must be, whole darkness hides

                The ship and our fate on the still tides.

Moyes was once the captain of our very own Balclutha, when she was called the Pacific Queen.  Born in Australia to no seafaring parents, Moyes left home at 14 to start a career in the sea, working his way from ordinary seaman to captain. His time spent at sea must have given him much inspiration, for he wrote over 80 poems, many of them long form.  As far as I can tell, none have been published. 

One of my favorite lighter ones is a toast I found written on a scrap of paper in HDC 833, SAFR 8451, The Captain Peter Petersen Papers. Written at the top of the torn sheet is “This poem Miss Bradley had readen (sic) on the bottle when the skiff was launched this summer after she had painted it.”

                Here’s to Peter the Great

                May you ever sail in state

                Should your mistress have a date

                Be sure you’re never late

Scribbling on scraps seems to be a popular method of capturing a fleeting poem. We can’t be sure who this was written by, but it was found in the Walter W. Taylor Papers (HDC 1454, SAFR 21896). Taylor (or someone else) took a poem by C. Fox Smith entitled “Racing Clippers: A Wool Fleet Memory” and changed it to make it more personal.

Here’s the text of the Taylor collection poem:

                There ain’t no racin’ clippers now. Nor never will be again.

                And most o’ the ships are gone by now, the same as most of the men.

                Like the ships that made a forest on the ‘Frisco waterside

                The slashing big four masters from the Mersey on the Clyde

                An the Yankee sky’s’l yarders with their plankin’ scoured like snow

                loading grain at ‘Frisco,-- Forty years ago

Another one found in the Taylor collection echoes the above poem with a lament of leaving the sea behind.

                When I was a boy I strolled

                around while the ships were

                outward bound.

                I had no tin to pay for

                gin so I just strolled

                around.

                My coat was out at the elbows

                I was hungry and footsore

                So I joined aboard a

                full rigged ship called the

                “Shanandore”

                No more will I go to the sea

                or roam the Western ocean

                a rolling and a bolling

                no more I ever will

                no more will I go to sea

                or roam the western ocean

                As long as I live I’ll stay

                on shore and go to sea more

                no more will I haul on a

                lee fore brace, or by those

                halyards stand.

                no more will I cry as

                aloft I fly with a tar pot

                in my hand.

No more will I swing on

                the big main yard or

                walk the capstan round.

                No more will I trim the

                royals while running the

                Easting down.

                               

 I mentioned passengers as being poets and boy, do I have a doozy of an example for you. In 1849, an unidentified author set sail from Norfolk to San Francisco on the bark the John L. Colley (HDC 27, SAFR 13573). This passenger found the journey so disagreeable, that he wrote a 17 page screed  in verse against the captain, of whom he says, “He was the  mildest manner’d man who ever scuttled ship or cut a throat”.  Here’s the title page so you can see he means business:

That’s a 0 star review if I ever heard one.

I’ll be writing a longer piece about poems in our collection for our website, so be on the lookout. As always, if you’d like to look at any of these poems or the many more in our collection, drop me a line gina_bardi@nps.gov.

(Addendum:  For more about poetry in the archives, see Poetry in Ocean.--Ed., Apr. 25, 2014)

Full fathom five my novel lies

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we're sharing a recently discovered poem by A. Poppet-Turning.  Devoted readers will remember this poet's Stack Fever, and despite our best efforts, we know nothing about the poet except that work and this newly discovered one, both found tucked into the Library's copy of English maritime books printed before 1801, apparently used as bookmarks.

Clearly a parody of Shakespeare's "Full Fathom Five" (read more about it in our initial blog post), this poem nevertheless conveys the heartbreak experienced by many a maritime reader--seeing your book vanish in "the drink!"

Happy National Poetry Month, and happy April 1!

Full fathom five my novel lies

It fell overboard--just rolled off my thighs!

Nothing of it that did float,

But soaking up water, its pages did bloat

Into something swollen and sunken.

A mystery novel, I should have held tight

But instead on this boat, with it did alight,

And this voyage I must now complete without it,

Not knowing at all if the butler did it.

The Skipper's Woes

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

"The Skipper's Woes," by An Old Salt, is the next poem, included in Nautical Nursery Rhymes by Billy Ringbolt, which resides in the Peterson, Peter H. (Capt.) Papers, (SAFR 18665, HDC 571).  Due to its length, we haven't reprinted it here, but it is available online from very interesting sources:

• "The Skipper's Woes" at Papers past:  Available in English and Maori, the Papers Past site contains over three million pages of digitized New Zealand newspapers and periodicals
• Many versions of "The Skippers Woes" via Trove:  Gateway site for searching over three million Australian and online resources.

Tacking ship

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

This week we're offering a longer rhyme, "Tacking Ship" (also known as, "Tacking Ship Off Shore") by Walter Mitchell, included in Nautical Nursery Rhymes by Billy Ringbolt, which resides in the Peterson, Peter H. (Capt.) Papers, (SAFR 18665, HDC 571).  With this poem, the verses in the book become  more narrative.

Tacking Ship

The weather leech of the topsail shivers,

The bowlines strain, and the lee shrouds slacken,

The braces are taut, and the little boom quivers,

And the waves with the coming squall-cloud blacken.

Open one point on the weather bow

Is the lighthouse tall on Bonita Head,

There's a shade of doubt on the Captain's brow,

And the pilot watches the heaving lead.

I stand at the wheel and with eager eye 

To sea and to sky and to shore I gaze,

'Till the muttered order of "Full and by!"

Is suddenly changed to "Full for stays!"

The ship bends lower before the breeze,

As her broadside to the blast she lays,

And she swifter springs to the rising sea,

As the pilot calls "Stand by for stays!"

It is silence all as each in his place,

With the gathered coil in his hardened hands,

By tack and bowline, by sheet and brace,

Waiting the watchword impatient stands.

And the light on Bonita Head draws near,

As, trumpet winged the pilot's shout

From his post on the forecastle head I hear,

With the welcome call of "Ready! About!"

No time to spare!  It is touch and go;

And the Captain growls, "Down helm, hard down!"

As my weight on the whirling spokes I throw,

While the heavens grow black with the storm cloud's frown.

High over the knight heads flies the spray

As we meet the shock of the plunging sea,

And my shoulder stiff to the wheel I lay

As I answer, "Ay, ay, sir!  Hard alee!"

With the swerving leap of a startled steed,

The ship flies fast in the eye of the wind.

The dangerous shoals on the lee recede

And the headland white we have left behind.

The topsails flutter, the jibs collapse,

And belly and tug at the groaning cleats;

And spanker slats, and mainsail flaps;

And thunders the order, "Tacks and sheets!"

'Mid the rattle of blocks and the tramp of the crew,

Hisses the rain of the rushing squall;

The sails are aback from clew to clew,

And now is the moment for "Mainsail haul!"

And the heavy yards, like a baby's toy,

By fifty strong arms are swiftly swing;

She holds her sway and I look with joy

For the first white spray over the bulwarks flung.

"Let go, and haul!"  'Tis the last command,

And the head sails fill to the blast once more.

Astern and to leeward lies the land,

With its breakers white on the shingly shore.

What matters the reef, or the rain, or the squall?

I steady the helm for the open sea;

The first mate clamors, "Belay, there all!"

And the Captain's breath once more comes free.

And so off shore let the good ship fly,

Little care I how the gusts may blow,

In my fo'castle bunk in a jacket dry,

Eight bells have struck, and my watch is below.