Ballads of Bravery :: The Loss of the Hornet.

The Loss of the Hornet.

The Loss of the Hornet.

CALL the watch! call the watch! “Ho! the starboard watch, ahoy!” Have you heard How a noble ship so trim, like our own, my hearties, here, All scudding ’fore the gale, disappeared, Where yon southern billows roll o’er their bed so green and clear? Hold the reel! keep her full! hold the reel! How she flew athwart the spray, as, shipmates, we do now, Till her twice a hundred fearless hearts of steel Felt the whirlwind lift its waters aft, and plunge her downward bow! Bear a hand!

Strike top-gallants! mind your helm! jump aloft! ’Twas such a night as this, my lads, a rakish bark was drowned, When demons foul, that whisper seamen oft, Scooped a tomb amid the flashing surge that never shall be found. Square the yards! a double reef! Hark the blast! O, fiercely has it fallen on the war-ship of the brave, When its tempest fury stretched the stately mast All along her foamy sides, as they shouted on the wave, “Bear a hand!”

Call the watch! call the watch! “Ho! the larboard watch, ahoy!” Have you heard How a vessel, gay and taut, on the mountains of the sea, Went below, with all her warlike crew on board, They who battled for the happy, boys, and perished for the free? Clew, clew up, fore and aft! keep away! How the vulture bird of death, in its black and viewless form, Hovered sure o’er the clamors of his prey, While through all their dripping shrouds yelled the spirit of the storm! Bear a hand!

Now out reefs! brace the yards! lively there! O, no more to homeward breeze shall her swelling bosom spread, But love’s expectant eye bid despair Set her raven watch eternal o’er the wreck in ocean’s bed. Board your tacks! cheerly, boys! But for them, Their last evening gun is fired, their gales are overblown; O’er their smoking deck no starry flag shall stream; They’ll sail no more, they’ll fight no more, for their gallant ship’s gone down. Bear a hand!

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