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THE
SHIPWRECK
A POEM.
BY WILLIAM FALCONER.
LONDON:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;
EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YORK.
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Contents.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,
MEMOIR OF FALCONER,
THE SHIPWRECK-
INTRODUCTION, 37
CANTO FIRST, 43
CANTO SECOND,
INTRODUCTION.
Engraved by Page
'
'Tis mine, retired beneath this cavern hoar.
That stands all lonely on the sea-beat shore,
Far other themes of deep distress to sing.".. . .W. T. Green 37
CANTO FIRST.
" A ship from Egypt, o'er the deep impelled
By guiding winds, her course for Venice held." Edmund Evans .... 45
'
Oft in the mazes of a neighbouring grove
Unheard they breathed alternate vows of love." , . Dalziel Bros 55
CANTO SECOND.
" The watery volume trembling to the sky,
Burst down, a dreadful deluge from on high " !
Edmund Evans 83
" Deep, on her side, the reeling vessel lies." Edmund Evans. ... 90
Four seamen off the lee yard-arm are lost. " W. T. Green 99
Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays." Dalziel Bros 107
CANTO THIRD.
" Now quivering o'er the topmost wave she rides." Dalziel Bros 127
11
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of night,
The glimmering watch-tower cast a mournful light." Dalziel Bros 132
Engraved by Page
" Next in the Gulf of Engia, Corinth lies." Edmund Evans.. .. 136
" And o'er the surge Colonna frowns on high." Dalziel Bros 150
" With dumb amazement pale, Arion gazed." Dalziel Bros 161
>Al!i . i
—
MEMOIR OF FALCONER.
|HAT genius will vindicate its celestial origin, and burst through
all obstructions, is an axiom illustrated by many splendid and
interesting examples. The energies of an original creative mind
and bold imagination can never be wholly repressed or obscured
by circumstances the cloud : that carries the electric fire conceals
it but for a time, and its manifestations appear all the brighter
from the previous gloom. In the list of eminent self-taught men who have
shed lustre on our imaginative literature, a high rank must be assigned to
the poet of the Shipwreck. No distinguished author ever rose from a lower
level, or had to contend with more depressing difficulties. His early years
were doomed to hardship, disappointment, and misery; and his situation as
a common seaman — "a ship-boy on the high and giddy mast" —precluded
nearly all opportunities of literary study or advancement, until after long
years of severe and irksome toil. In this respect he stands alone in our
annals. Burns, Gifford, Bloomfield, or Hogg, had no such hard ascent to
climb. The shepherd on his hill and the rustic at his plough have each a
certain range of natural freedom, and chances of intellectual companionship
and enjoyment. The mechanic also has his hours of leisure and access to
books. None of them are debarred the supreme luxury and elevating influ-
ences of Sabbath rest, summer walks, and female society. But the young
apprenticed seaman is restricted to one set of associates, often men coarse,
on his profession of a sailor, and was only forced into it by utter helpless-
ness and destitution. No other outlet seemed attainable every gate of hope ;
The maiden name of the poet's mother was Agnes Shand, and she was
remembered as a careful and exemplary matron, intelligent, industrious, and
affectionate. The elder Falconer carried on business in that ancient quarter
of the town known as the Netherbow, where stood the once famous " Port"
or gate condemned to destruction by the government of George II. , in petty
and ludicrous resentment of the Porteous Mob of 1736, but which flourished
long afterwards with its towers, battlements, and spire. This antique
structure extended right across High Street, dividing that most picturesque
of city thoroughfares from the privileged and historical district of the
Canongate. Shops and houses with wooden fronts and "fore- stairs" were
clustered round the Port, and in one of these dwelt William Falconer, a
citizen remarkable for his humour and eccentricity, who has been compared
to Partridge in "Tom Jones," and who, like that learned and witty tonsor,
was somewhat unthrifty and unfortunate. Pity it is that the jest and tale
which gladden these little coteries do not always carry prosperity with their
sunshine ! The merriest man in the Netherbow was one of the most
and excellent partner, the affairs of the old man again became deranged.
Recovery was hopeless, and the latter days of William Falconer were passed
in extreme indigence. The family of this unfortunate couple consisted of
three children : the poet, and a brother and sister, both born deaf and dumb,
whose pitiable condition added to the other calamities of the poor household.
—
MEMOIR OF FALCONER. xm
painful emotion, and in his poetry he is silent as to the scene of his birth
and childhood.
It is possible that the humble fortunes of the family had not reached their
lowest ebb till some years after the birth of the poet. In describing, under
the name of Arion, his early attainments and misfortunes, Falconer con-
veys the impression that he had at least entered upon a liberal course of
education :
We have, however, the poet's own statement, made repeatedly to his friend,
Governor Hunter, that his education was confined to reading, writing, and
a little arithmetic ; and the early age at which he must have left home,
added to the straitened circumstances of his parents, may be held as con-
firmatory of the fact. The farewell to science and the laurel grove was
probably, in those days of artificial poetry, deemed necessary and indis-
period of apprenticeship for a sailor was then four years, but it is doubtful
whether Falconer served the whole of this period. Before he had completed
his eighteenth year we read of his having exchanged the merchant service
for the Royal Navy ; of his wandering, apparently without any fixed employ-
ment, through various scenes in the East, and of his engaging himself at
the port of Alexandria as a mate on board the Britannia, a merchantman
engaged in the Levant trade. In the Royal Navy the purser of his ship was
—
had attained celebrity, felt a pride in boasting of his scholar. The period
of tuition, however, must have been a brief one; for, in the autumn of 1750,
Falconer, then only eighteen, as we have stated, sailed from Alexandria for
Venice as second mate of the Britannia. Such an appointment for one so
young speaks well for his proficiency as a sailor. The British merchantmen
at this time, as we learn from Mr. Stanier Clarke, remained trading from
port to port in the Levant and Mediterranean, until ordered for England,
when they generally loaded with silks at Leghorn. The Britannia had
"wafted her commercial store" along the shores of Africa and Italy, and,
having touched at Alexandria and Crete, sailed for Venice, whence she was
to steer for England. The vessel, however, was overtaken by a dreadful
storm off Cape Colonna, on the coast of Greece, and suffered shipwreck.
The whole of the crew, consisting of about fifty men, perished, with the
exception of three of the number, of whom Falconer happily was one.
The incidents of the voyage, and its disastrous termination, left an indelible
numerous elegies and lamentations, and among the public mourners was
our young poetical mariner. His effusion, printed at Edinburgh, is entitled
" A Poem Sacred to the Memory of his Royal Highness Frederick, Prince
of Wales." The poem, it must be admitted, was one of the most unpromis-
ing of youthful productions. Melpomene has rarely been invoked with less
success ; for conventional as the poetical style and diction of that period
were, such puerile and inflated lines as the following — the best in the piece
.
— are below even the ordinary standard :
MEMOIR OF FALCONER. xv
The youth and circumstances of the writer form an excuse for such imma-
turity of taste and judgment. But it is curious to find Falconer, many years
afterwards, in the second edition of his Shipwreck, allude with some com-
placency to this first production :
His desire to appear loyal, and steadfast in his loyalty, had overpowered
his critical perceptions. For about ten years subsequent to this period our
Not less faithful are the satirical sketches entitled " The Chaplain's Peti-
tion" and " The Midshipman," but they have no great poetical merit. The
admirable naval song of "The Storm" ("Cease, rude Boreas, blustering
railer!"), which the singing of Incledon once made so popular, has been
assigned to Falconer, instead of its reputed author, George Alexander
Stevens. There is a mixture of carelessness and jollity, combined with a
flow of lyrical melody, in this song, which appears to us quite foreign to
Falconer's usual manner. It was certainly easier and more natural for
Stevens, a good song writer and man of imitative talent, to play the sailor,
* "Pharos :
" her poop Ian thorn.
— —
and import some nautical phrases, than for Falconer to write once, and once
only, in a strain different from all his other compositions. We believe,
also, that if "The Storm" had been written by our author, he would have
acknowledged and claimed it, proud as he was of displaying his naval
the distinct statement of Mr. Clarke, that after the wreck of the Britannia,
in 1750, Falconer continued in the merchant service until he had gained the
patronage of his Royal Highness Edward, Duke of York, by dedicating to
him his poem of "The Shipwreck."
That great narrative poem, so truly British in subject and feeling, and so
original in execution, appeared in May 1762, in the form of a thin quarto
volume, price five shillings. It was illustrated with a chart of the ship's
course, and an engraving of the elevation of a merchant ship, with all her
masts, yards, sails, and rigging. Such a work was a novelty in what was
termed polite literature. The descriptive Muse never before appeared in
such a nautical costume ! The title-page bore that the volume was "printed
for the author, " an indication, probably, that the poet had not been able to
find a purchaser for the copyright of his work ; and it was dedicated, by
permission, to the Duke of York, " Rear- Admiral of the Blue Squadron of
his Majesty's Fleet." —
To this dedication a plain unflattering inscription
Falconer affixed his name. The title of the work was simply "The Ship-
wreck, a Poem in Three Cantos, by a Sailor," with the motto from Virgil
(i^neid, bk. ii. v. 5)
It is gratifying to find that the royal patron acknowledged the honour con-
* ferred upon him, and testified his sense of the merits of the poem by a
2
xvm MEMOIR OF FALCONER,
prompt and substantial mark of regard. He advised Falconer to quit the
merchant service and enter the Royal Navy ; and, in consequence of the
Duke's recommendation and influence, the poet was rated as a midshipman
on board Sir Edward Hawke's ship, the Royal George. At the same time
his poem no less rapidly advanced in popularity. Though only an outline
or skeleton of what it was afterwards to become under the hands of its
author, the Shipwreck was hailed as one of our finest and most original
those in the ^Eneid ; and, in versifying his sea language, Falconer was held
Such exaggerated praise was an error, but it was an error on the right side.
It is seldom that the world is too generous to those who minister to its
instruction or delight.
This was the happiest period of Falconer's life. He could tread the
quarter-deck of the Royal George with conscious and justifiable pride. He
had won poetical fame, unquestionably the dearest wish of his heart ; he
had, unsolicited, obtained professional advancement ; and he enjoyed the
patronage of a young and gallant prince, who had the taste to appreciate
and the power to reward his genius. Though long buffeted by adverse
gales of fortune, he was only yet in his thirtieth year, still eager to run the
race for manly honours ; and Hope, that had so often allured and deceived
him, might now assume her fairest form and brightest colours. His gloomy
forebodings and querulous discontent were all hushed in joy and gratulation.
Love, also, was joined to Hope. Falconer's temperament seems to have
been grave and serious — perhaps austere. His appearance was not prepos-
sessing, bespeaking the rough sailor rather than the poet. But he had all
the poet's warmth and depth of feeling ; and his solitary and somewhat
rugged nature, when kindled up by contact with a congenial mind, found
expression in fluent and impressive speech. Those who have most keenly
felt adversity and neglect are soonest melted by kindness and sympathy.
The worth and talents of Falconer attracted the notice of a young lady,
daughter of the surgeon of Sheerness Yard ; an intimacy sprung up between
them, though discountenanced by Mr. Hicks, the lady's father; and the
charms of " Miranda" called forth some pleasing ballad stanzas from the
author of the Shipwreck. In political or satirical verse (which he after-
wards attempted) Falconer signally failed ; in amatory poetry he had better
success, for he wrote from genuine passion and true impulses. Stanzas
— — ; ;
like the following have rarely proceeded from the orlop, or midshipman's
cabin :
ADDRESS TO MIRANDA.
The smiling plains, profusely gay,
Are dressed in all the pride of May ;
XX MEMOIR OF FALCONER.
Say whence this secret anguish grows,
Congenial with my joy !
Before the close of the year the Duke of York sailed again in command
of the fleet, and Falconer, thinking probably, with Gray, that it is ''better
small space formed between the cable-tiers and the ship's side." * Governor
Hunter must have been mistaken in his recollection of the piece thus com-
posed. The Ode was not published till some months after the Duke's
departure, and it is an elaborate production of above two hundred and
thirty lines, in all the intricate variety of metre to be found in Dryden's
great Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, of which it is in some respects an imitation,
though in quality more akin to the early Pindaric attempts of Swift. The
gratitude of the poet is warmly expressed, and in the conclusion of the ode
* Mr. Stanier Clarke's Life of Falconer prefixed to Shipwreck, London 1804. Mr.
Clarke states that Falconer's Ode was published on occasion of the Duke of York embark-
ing on board the Centurion with Commodore Harrison. But the Centjirion did not sail
on this expedition till September 1763, and Falconer's poem was published some months
earlier. It was written before the conclusion of the war. The second departure of the
Duke was that in November 1762, when his Royal Highness was associated in the com-
mand with Sir Charles Hardy, and "moved to war," as the poet says, "through storms
and wintry seas."
— " ; ;
he hints that he may yet be called upon to celebrate some great naval
victory :
This warlike wish was frustrated by the treaty of peace between Great
Britain, France, and Spain, which was signed at Paris on the loth of Feb-
ruary 1763.
As Falconer could not have obtained further promotion in the Royal
Navy without some years of service, he was advised to exchange into the
civil department; and in the year 1763 he was appointed purser of the
Glory frigate, 32 guns. The purser, as he himself has stated, is "an officer
her mind rather than of her person which attracted and confirmed the
affection of her husband." A contemporary of the lady, who knew her.
and a man of literary tastes, Mr. Joseph Moser, describes the poet's wife
as "a woman of cultivated mind, elegant in her person, and sensible and
agreeable in conversation.
At this time, or shortly before, Falconer is said to have paid a final visit
to Scotland. Dr. Irving, in a sketch of the poet's life, first mentioned the
fact, adding that Falconer "resided for some time at the manse of Glads-
muir, which was then possessed by his illustrious kinsman, Dr. Robertson.
This great historian, whose father was the cousin-german of old Falconer,
seems to have been proud to acknowledge his relationship to the ingenious
as he states, after the publication of the Shipwreck, the poet must have met
his kinsman in Edinburgh, for Robertson left Gladsmuir in 1758. The
meeting most probably took place in the Scottish capital, and each had
special cause for congratulation. Robertson, by his first work, the " His-
tory of Scotland," had reached the highest popularity: Falconer, by his
one poem, had earned scarcely less distinction, overcoming by the force of
native genius the difficulties incident to his nautical task, and uniting with
his technical lore the inspiration and energy of a true poet. We have no
record of the feelings of Falconer on revisiting, at this interesting period,
the haunts of his boyhood : the old Netherbow Port and High Street, and
the shores of Leith, whence, sad at heart, he had first embarked on the sea.
its flight effaces the old landmarks. But Falconer had not lived in vain ; he
had struggled through the past up to worldly honour, and he could look
forward into the future without dread, solaced and cheered by domestic
happiness.
His fortunes, however, were always fluctuating. After the peace, his
ship, the Glory ', was laid up in ordinary at Chatham, and a purser's half-
pay was but a slender provision. At this juncture he found a kind and
considerate friend in one of the Commissioners of the Navy, Mr. Han way,
brother of Jonas Hanway, whose controversy with Johnson on the qualities
and effects of tea has preserved his name better than his published travels,
Above nine hundred lines were added, and these included all of what may-
be called the character-painting of the poem, as the delineations of Albert
and Rodmond, and the episode of Palemon. In the "Advertisement"
Falconer made this statement :
approbation, and raise the price of performances that have been much
encouraged, the author chooses to steer in a quite different channel. It
being a considerable time since the first edition sold off (notwithstanding
the high price and the singularity of the subject), he might very justly
continue the price ; but as it deterred a number of the inferior officers of the
sea from purchasing it, at their repeated requests it has been printed now in
a smaller edition. At the same time the author is sorry to observe that the
gentlemen of the sea, for whose entertainment it was chiefly calculated,
The next production of our author was a rhyming satire on Lord Chatham,
Wilkes, and Churchill, entitled The De?nagogue. It must have been written
after the publication of Churchill's "Gotham" in the spring of 1764, and
before the death of that unscrupulous but powerful satirist in November of
the same year. Nearly all the literary Scotsmen of that period were
engaged in defence of the Bute Administration. It had become a point of
honour with them, as the contest seemed to be one, as of old, between the
thistle and the rose. Wilkes, Churchill, the Whigs and Dissenters, were
against Scotland and Scotsmen. Chatham abjured local and national pre-
judices, but he fought on the same side. Never was the Crown or Govern-
ment more fiercely assailed than at this time ; and besides nationality of
feeling — the perfervidum ingenhtm Scotorum roused by repeated attacks
Falconer was bound, both by gratitude and consistency, to the side of the
king's friends. His best patron was the brother of his sovereign, and his
first poetical effort was devoted to the cause of royalty. His Demagogue,
however, was a poor fragmentary performance, remarkable for its virulence
and not for its poetry. Of the tact, humour, or wit, essential in political
satire, he was destitute —his strength was derived from the sea ; and as
XXIV MEMOIR OF FALCONER.
the sailor fears to whistle in a storm, Falconer would have best consulted
his fame by remaining silent during the noise and fury of the political
elements.
The remaining five years of Falconer's life are involved in some obscu-
rity.- In 1767, according to Mr. Clarke, he was appointed from the Glory
to the Swiftsure — still, we presume, a purser; and then we hear of his
having left his naval retreat at Chatham, and of his being obliged to take
up his abode in a garret in London, deriving a pittance from writing in the
"Critical Review." Why he should have resigned his naval appointment
does not appear. He was too practical and too sensible a man to have
abandoned a secure and respectable position for the precarious gains of
authorship, for which he had no peculiar vocation ; and the death of his
patron, the Duke of York (September 17, 1767), could not, we presume,
have caused his retirement. The story of the garret is, we suspect, fabulous.
It is certain that Falconer could not have struggled long, as Mr. Clarke
asserts, against the res angusta domus, for we have only a period of two
years between 1767 and his death, and during that time one at least of his
most intimate friends did not consider him to be in poverty. A bookseller,
Mr. John Murray (grandfather of the present eminent publisher of that
name), requested the poet to join him as partner. In a letter, dated
October 16, 1768, Mr. Murray writes to Falconer, then at Dover, that a
certain Mr. Sandby, bookseller, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, was about
to retire from his shop in Fleet Street, and that his business could be
obtained for a sum not much beyond ^400. "I have little reason," says
Mr. Murray, "to fear success by myself in this undertaking, yet I think so
many additional advantages would accrue to us both, were your forces and
mine joined, that I cannot help mentioning it to you, and making you the
offer of entering into company." **
The poet, he added, would be assumed
as partner on equal terms. This offer proves that Falconer could not have
been in the very reduced circumstances in which he is represented by his
biographers, and it proves also that he must have possessed the correct and
steady habits of a man of business. He seems to have declined the offer,
application, he said, for some years. The undertaking was first suggested
to him by his "worthy and ingenious friend," George Lewis Scott, Esq.,
and its utility had been acknowledged by Sir Edward Hawke, and other
naval authorities. In a country deriving its principal sources of strength
from the superiority of its marine, such a work was evidently wanted, and
Falconer had laboured strenuously to render his Dictionary accurate and
complete. All that related to the equipment and movements of a ship, or
to the practice of naval war, was derived, he said, chiefly from his own
observation ; in treating of the artillery he had consulted various authors,
and in the part connected with ship-building he acknowledged his obligations
to M. Du Ham el— a high authority on naval architecture —who had
written to him on the subject of his work in complimentary terms. The
Dictionary, we may add, was a large quarto volume, and was illustrated
with a variety of original designs of shipping in different situations, with
separate views of the masts, sails, &c.
Such an important service could not fail to attract the notice of the
Admiralty, and remind them of the strong claims of its author. Accordingly,
we find that almost immediately after the publication of his Dictionary,
Falconer received an appointment which promised to be the most lucrative
and considerable he had yet held. The affairs of India were then in a
critical position, in consequence of the wars of Hyder Ali, and of disputed
territorial revenues, and the Company resolved on sending out three com-
missioners or supervisors, invested with extraordinary powers for the emer-
gency. These were, Henry Vansittart, Luke Scrofton, and Colonel Francis
Forde. The Aurora frigate was selected for the voyage, and Falconer was
nominated as purser of the vessel, with a promise that he would also
receive the appointment of private secretary to the commissioners.
revised by himself; no other person would have taken such liberties with
his text, and the new passages introduced mark his own hand. He may,
however, have been hurried in his task by the necessity of preparing for
his departure ; and we think Mr. Clarke acted judiciously as editor of the
poem, rn collating the different editions, and restoring the text to something
like distinctness and purity. Not a line was inserted that had not been
sanctioned by the author —he was made to correct himself. We have
followed Mr. Clarke's example in this reprint of the Shipwreck, but have
made a greater use of the third and latest edition the last seen by the poet. —
The Aurora sailed from Spithead on the 2nd of October 1769. Among
the passengers, besides the three commissioners, was the Rev. William
Hirst, chaplain to the expedition — an accomplished astronomer, who had
observed the transit of Venus, in 1761, at Madras, and who was afterwards
associated with the Astronomer Royal in Greenwich Observatory. From
a letter written by this gentleman we learn that the Aurora arrived at the
Cape of Good Hope on the 6th of December, that the commissioners had
been harmonious and happy on board ship, and had been hospitably received
by the Dutch governor and his council. They made various excursions into
the country, and finally left the Cape, after a fortnight's stay, on the 27th
passage during the fair season from April to September. But the Channel
abounds in shoals, and Captain Lee was a stranger to the navigation, while
the season was too far advanced. The commissioners remonstrated, but
the captain was obstinate. Mr. Vansittart was so impressed with the
danger of the rash experiment, that he would have quitted the Aurora if
— ;
another outward-bound East Indiaman had been then at the Cape. The
Aurora sailed, and the result justified the worst fears that had been enter-
tained —the ill-fated ship never reached its destination. Months and years
elapsed, but no tidings came. The captain had spoken of touching at
Johanna, one of the Comorro Islands, for provisions ; he had also talked of
landing on the island of St. Paul's ; inquiries were made, but no trace of
the vessel, after her leaving the Cape, was ever obtained. About four
years afterwards, on the 19th of October 1773, a seaman, a negro, was
examined before the East India Directors on the subject of the wreck. He
stated that the Aurora had struck on a reef of rocks off Mocoa; that himself
and four others were the only persons saved ; that he and his companions
had been two years on an island after their escape ; and that they had at
length been rescued by a country ship, which happened to touch at the
island. What credit was given to the man's statement is not mentioned
the main fact, the loss of the Aurora, was, alas, but too apparent, and with
her had perished the poet whose genius and fate have given so deep and
melancholy an interest to the catastrophe.
Bowles.
from the continued sale of the Marine Dictionary and Shipwreck, of which
he held the copyrights. Mr. Moser, already mentioned, in one of his
numerous communications to the "European Magazine," states, that meeting
the poet's widow one
and expressing incidentally in conversation his
day,
admiration of the Shipwreck, she burst into tears. " She presented me,"
he adds, "with a copy of the Shipwreck, and seemed much affected by my
commiseration of the misfortunes of a man whose work appears in its
The fame of Falconer rests securely on this one monument of his genius.
single incident, his poem of the Shipwreck possesses or suggests nearly all
the primary elements of poetry and painting, of profound interest and over-
pose to be treated with great severity by his officers Blinded by these preposses-
sions, he (the midshipman) is thrown off his guard, and very soon surprised to find,
amongst those honest sailors, a crew of abandoned miscreants, ripe for any mischief or
villany. Perhaps, after a little observation, many of them will appear to him equally
destitute of gratitude, shame, or justice, and only deterred from the commission of any
crimes by the terror of severe punishment." Fielding, in his " Voyage to Lisbon," in-
dulges in similar remarks. But it is scarcely necessary to add, that both the naval and
military service have, by proper regulations and better instruction, been greatly elevated
in moral character within the last century.
— : —
whelming pathos. The sea, with its various phenomena of beauty and
terror, its storm and sunshine —the stately ship with its magnificent tracery
and equipage, and its gallant crew — the classic and picturesque shores of
the Mediterranean — and the appalling event of the shipwreck, with its
horrors, despair, and death; such are the materials with which the poet had
to deal in relating his story, " new to epic lore." The opening lines of the
first canto strike the key-note, as it were, to a train of romantic and interest-
ing associations :
The name of Britannia, if fortuitous, was one of the felicities of the poet's
subject ; if assumed for the occasion, it furnishes an instance of his poetical
art and skill. Had the ship been named the Mary Jane, or the Janies
Barnes, the effect would have been very different. But still more important
towards the poetical treatment of the subject was the scene of the catastrophe
— the shores of Greece. All the images and recollections arising from
beautiful scenery, the august remains of ancient art, and the wisdom and
patriotism of the most heroic age of the world, were at once enlisted as
auxiliaries of the story. The ship Sailing along such shores became an
object of deeper interest and of poetical sympathy; and its final destruction
occurred at a spot memorable on that illustrious coast. " In all Attica,"
says Byron, " if we except Athens itself and Marathon, there is no scene
more interesting than Cape Colonna. To the antiquary and artist, sixteen
columns are an inexhaustible source of observation and design; to the
philosopher, the supposed scene of Plato's conversations will not be unwel-
come ; and the traveller will be struck with the beauty of the prospect over
' isles that crown the ^Egean deep;' but for an Englishman, Colonna has
yet an additional interest, as the actual spot of Falconer's Shipwreck. Pallas
and Plato are forgotten in the recollection of Falconer and Campbell :
*
Here in the dead of night, by Lonna's steep,
The seaman's cry was heard along the deep.'"
This temple of Minerva may be seen at sea from a great distance ; and the
imagination instantly conjures up its appearance on that fatal day when the
lightning flashed among the ruined columns, and the doomed vessel, driven
like a fury by the storm, bounded through the waves towards the rocky
shore. In the softer scenes of the poem this power of association and local
— — ; ; ;: ;
scriptive poetry there is nothing finer than the pictures of the sunset and
midnight on the shores of Candia, as seen from the sea. The solemn calm
and delicious beauty and repose of this Eastern landscape prepare the
reader, by contrast, for the nautical description that follows, which is brought
out with great effect. The boatswain's whistle breaks the silence, and the
order to weigh anchor is given. The sailors swarm aloft, fix the bars, and
The ship is then minutely described. Falconer has been blamed for adding
to it "frowning artillery;" but every Levant trader carried guns, and the
Britannia is represented as a first-class merchantman. The natives gather
round the shore in the noon-day sun to see the vessel depart " majestically
slow before the breeze," the imperial flag unfurled:
The characters of the chief officers of the vessel are well delineated and
contrasted. Albert, the commander, is brave, liberal, and humane, "the
father of his crew;" Rodmond, the next in command, is coarse, boisterous,
and obstinate, yet dexterous and fearless as a seaman. One fine touch of
humanity redeems his character: amidst the horrors of the wreck the helms-
man is struck blind by the lightning
'
Hie thee aloft, my gallant friend he cries !
'
Palemon, the friend of Arion, and his love story, somewhat interrupt the
progress of the narrative, yet few readers would wish them away. His
passion is one of unsophisticated nature and simple truth —a scene from
Arcadian life — and it is in many parts touched with great delicacy and
tenderness. Objection made to the historical episodes and
is more justly
classical allusions with which the poem abounds. These occur chiefly
towards the close of the work, when the reader's anxiety and interest are
strongly excited by the impending catastrophe. We see the ship
*
'
quivering
o'er the topmost waves," or plunging headlong down the "horrid vale,"
the furious breakers lashing the strand on which the crew are every moment
in danger of being dashed ; and we are stopped with an enumeration of the
ancient Grecian states and their philosophers, with the Delphic oracle, Par-
nassus, and Helicon. There is much tawdry ornament, tumid expression,
and forced comparison in these passages ; but the poet no sooner touches
the sea, than he regains his native strength. His verse rises and swells like
— ; ; : ; :: : ;; —
And this angel of the wind is personified in a few lines of great power:
The resources of the seamen in this awful extremity, the throwing of the
guns overboard, and the mournful consultation of the pilots, are depicted
with a terrible reality. The incident of cutting down the mast seems like
a great and sublime sacrifice, exciting intense sympathy
The ship at length breaks up ; we watch it with the painful interest due to
a living being. Lifted high by a tremendous wave she strikes in her descent
— ;
upon the marble crags, and, wounded, plunges and reels over the heaving
surge; a second shock bilges the splitting vessel, and a third rends asunder
the solid oak
" Her crashing ribs divide,
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the tide."
The scene of agony and despair which ensues is portrayed with affecting
minuteness and solemnity. No reckless or desperate seaman leaps over-
board, anticipating death, as in the shipwreck described by Byron ; there
are no yells or demands for intoxicating drink; calm, manly sorrow and
Christian resignation, mark the hour of horror and death. And when the
tragedy has closed, the poet's art is seen in the picturesque addition of a
troop of Grecian peasants, who, roused by the blustering tempest, repair to
the summit of Cape Colonna, and gaze down with horror on the flood and
ruin below. They descend to the beach to succour the few survivors—
With these lines, so exquisite in their simplicity and pathos, the poem
closes, like some magnificent and agitating piece of music, terminating in a
3
v
in the most perilous emergency, form the best, indeed the only opinions
which a skilful mariner should adopt. We possess, therefore, a poem not
only eminent for its sublimity and pathos, but for an harmonious assemblage
of technical terms and maxims used in navigation, which a young sailor may
easily commit to memory; and also, with these, such scientific principles as
will enable him to lay a sound foundation for his future professional skill
and judgment." Poetry has seldom received or earned this praise of direct
utility, for, though Virgil embodied in his exquisite verse the rules of hus-
nautical precepts and description. These are only subordinate and accessory
to his power of touching the heart and painting to the eye and imagination.
In the light of his poetry the Britamiia sails with a glory not its own, and
the perils and adventures of the voyage are invested with a moral beauty
and interest. It is this blending of the ideal with the real — of the pic-
turesque and poetical with the pathetic and sublime — that constitutes the
charm of the narrative; and a poem thus founded on truth and nature,
elevated by imagination, and presenting the most affecting examples of
human suffering and moral heroism, may be said to rest on an imperishable
basis. It has survived many revolutions of taste and opinion, and unques-
tionably will be read as long as British enterprise and valour maintain their
empire on the sea.
tf. V. rVOCDS.s*
; :
*-
fft k
INTRODUCTION.
HILE jarring interests wake the world to arms,
And fright the peaceful vale with dire alarms;
hand,
Spreads desolation o'er the bleeding land ;
38 INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION. 39
40 INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION. 4*
I. Retrospect of the Voyage— Arrival at Candia — State of that Island— Season of the
Year described. — II. Character of the Master, and his Officers, Albert, Rodmond, and
Arion— Palemon, Son to the Owner of the Ship— Attachment of Palemon to Anna, the
Daughter of Albert— Noon.— III. Palemon's History.— IV. Sunset— Midnight— Arion's
4
; : ;
* These remarks allude to the ever-me- being then considered as impregnable, and
morable Siege of Candia, which was taken esteemed the most formidable fortress in
from the Venetians by the Turks in 1669 the universe;
: —
leads,
Her snowy
youth,
scenes from earliest
For, trained in rural
innocence, and truth.
Nature was hers, and
art,
city damsel's
She never knew the
Whose frothy pertness charms the vacant heart-
: :
soul.
5
;! — ;
'
Ah ! wherefore should my hopeless love, (she cries,
Thou too, sweet maid ! ere twice ten months are o'er,
PK*
Ye tender maids ! in whose pathetic souls
* This and the three preceding lines were In secret long bewails his cruel fate,
deleted in the third edition, and the follow- With fond remembrance of his winged
ing (which seem worthy of preservation) mate;
substituted :
grown
Till familiar with a foreign train,
" The hapless bird, thus ravished from the Composed at length his sadly-warbling
skies, strain
Where all forlorn his loved companion In sweet oblivion charms the sense of
/lies, pain."
! ; : ; ::
shun
The fatal path where thousands are undone!
Now, as the youths, returning o'er the plain,
And Night slow draws her veil o'er land and main,
Emerging clouds the azure east invade,
It is turned about by a number of long bars the cable or otherwise charged with any great
of levers, and is furnished with strong iron effort. Falconer's Marine Dictionary.}
pauls to prevent it from, recoiling. [Paul, a f Towing is chiefly used as here, when a
certain short bar of wood or iron fixed close ship for want of wind is forced toward the
to the capstern or windlass of a ship, to pre- shore, by the swell of the sea.
:
* Stud, or sttidding-sails, are light sails, a Stay, when the wind crosses the ship's
which are extended in fine weather and fair course either directly or obliquely.
winds beyond the skirts of the principal t The operation of taking the sun's azi-
sails. Stay-sails are three-cornered sails, muth, in order to discover the eastern or
which are hoisted up on a strong rope called western variation of the magnetical needle.
— ; :
* In third edition :
— " In silent pomp she appears light and graceful on the water
marches on the seas." they are usually distinguished into the main-
t Before the art of coppering ships' wale and the channel-wale.
bottoms was discovered, they were painted [In third edition the wales are graphically
white. The wales are the strong flanks depicted :
which extend along a ship's side, at differ- " The wales, that close above in contrast
ent heights, throughout her whole length, shone,
and form the curves by which a vessel Clasp the longfabric with a jetty zone."]
8 ; ; —: !
THE ARGUMENT.
Dolphin — Breeze freshens— Ship's rapid Progress along the Coast—Top-sails Reefed
Gale of Wind — Last Appearance, Bearing, and Distance, of Cape Spado —A Squall—Top-
Sails Double Reefed — Main-sail Split — The Ship Bears Away before the Wind ; again
Hauls upon the Wind —Another Main-sail Bent, and Set— Porpoises. — III. The Ship
Driven Out of her Course from Candia — Heavy Gale—Top-sails Furled—Top-gallant-
Mode of Taking in the Main-sail — Courses Reefed— Four Seamen Lost off the Lee Main-
yard-arm —Anxiety of the Master and his Mates, on being near a Lee Shore — Mizzen
Reefed. — IV. A Tremendous Sea bursts over the Deck; itsConsequences —The Ship
Labours in Great Distress— Guns Thrown Overboard — Dismal Appearance of the Weather
—Very High and Dangerous Sea— Storm of Lightning— Severe Fatigue of the Crew at
the Pumps — Critical Situation of the Ship near the Island Falconera— Consultation and
Resolution of the Officers — Speech and Advice of Albert his Devout Address to Heaven
;
— Order Given to Bear Away—The Fore Stay-sail Hoisted and Split—The Head-yards
Braced Aback—The Mizzen-mast Cut Away.
—
€nnio Swxmir.
DIEU ! ye pleasures of the sylvan scene,
Where Peace and calm Contentment dwell
serene :
tides,
* The scud is a name given by seamen to cannon, the lee-braces, weather-braces, &c.
the lowest and lightest clouds, which are The same term is used by Milton :
swiftly driven along the atmosphere by the " The pilot of some small night-foundered
winds. With fixed anchor, [skiff,
t When the wind crosses a ship's course, Moors by his side under the lee."
either directly or obliquely, that side of the Par. Lost, b. i. v. 204.
ship upon which it acts is termed the weather- \ The top-sails are large square sails of
side ; and the opposite one, which is then the second degree in height and magnitude.
pressed downwards, is termed the lee-side; Reefs are certain divisions or spaces by
all on one side of her is accordingly called which the principal sails are reduced when
to windward, and all on the opposite side to the wind increases and again enlarged pro-
;
leeward :hence also are derived the lee- portionably when its force abates.
: ; — ;
* Halyards are those ropes by which sails, and the extremities of the reefs, to the
sails are hoisted or lowered. respective yard-arms, particularly when any
f Bow-lutes are ropes fastened to the outer sail is to be close furled.
edge of square sails in three different places, || The mizzen is alarge sail of an oblong
that the windward edge of the sail may be figure^ extended upon the mizzen-mast.
bound tight forward on a side wind, in order
to keep the sail from shivering.
% Clue-garnets are the same to the main-
sail and which the clue-lines are to
fore-sail
X Chie-lines are fastened to the lower
all other square sails,, and are hauled up
corners of the square sails, for the more easy
furling of them.
when the sail is to be furled or brailed.
Reef-tackles are ropes
fastened to the edge of the sail, just beneath ** Sheets ; it is necessary in this place to
the lowest reef; and being brought down to remark that the sheets, which are universally
the deck by means of two blocks, are used mistaken by our English poets for the sails,
to facilitate the operation of reefing. are in reality the ropes that are used to ex-
§ Barings are small ropes employed to tend the clues, or lower corners of the sails,
fasten the upper corners of the principal to which they are attached.
; : ;
* The reason for putting the helm her course from one board to the other,
a-weather, or to the side next the wind, is turns her stern to windward the French
:
to make the ship veer before it, when it term is, virer vent arriere.
blows so hard that she cannot bear her side
to it any longer. Veering, or wearing, is f The helmsman, or steersman, frcm the
the operation by which a ship, in changing French timonnicr.
: ; —;
* The helm, being turned to starboard, X The main-sail and fore-sail of a ship are
or to the right side of the ship, directs the furnished with a tack on each side, which is
prow to the left, or to port, and vice versa. formed of a thick rope tapering to the end,
Hence the helm being put a starboard, having a knot wrought upon the largest ex-
when the ship is running northward, directs tremity, by which it is firmly retained in the
her prow towards the west. clue of the sail : by this means the tack is
t Called with more propriety the fore top- always fastened to windward, at the same
mast staysail: it is of a triangular shape, time that the sheet extends the sail to lee-
ence on the fore part of the ship, as the § Bunt-lines are ropes fastened to the
mizzen has on the hinder part ; and, when bottoms of the square sails, to draw them
thus used together, they may be said to up to the yards, when the sails are brailed
balance each other. (See also the last note or furled.
of this Canto.)
: ; :
* A yard is said to be braced when it is passed through the eyelet-holes under the
turned about the most horizontally, either head-rope.
to the right or left the ropes employed in
: || Because the lee-brace confines the yard,
this service are accordingly called braces. so that the tack will not come down to its
t Brails: a general name given to all the place till the braces are cast loose. [Chess-
ropes which are employed to haul up or trees, mentioned in the next line, are thus
brail the bottoms and lower corners of the explained by Falconer in his Dictionary
great sails. "Two pieces of wood bolted perpendicu-
\ A rope is always attached to the edges larly, one on the starboard and the other on
of the sails, to strengthen, and prevent them the larboard side of the ship. They are
from rending those parts of it which are
: used to confine the clue or lower corners of
on the perpendicular or sloping edges are the mainsail for which purpose there is a
;
called leech-ropes ; that at the bottom, the hole in the upper part, through which the
foot-rope; and that on the top, or upper rope passes, that usually extends the clue of
edge, the head-rope. the sail to windward."]
§ Robans, or rope-bands, are small pieces "IT Taught implies stiff, tense, or extended
of rope, of a sufficient length to pass two Or straight and tally is a phrase particularly
;
three times about the yards, in order to fix applied to the operation of hauling aft the
to them the upper edges of the respective sheets, or drawing them towards the ship's
great sails : the robans, for this purpose, are stern. To belay, is to fasten.
——
: :
The parrels, ||
lifts, 1F and clue-lines soon are gone,
Topped and unrigged they down the back-stays run
t Top-gallant-yards, which are the high- and of these there are four different
est ones in a ship, are sent down at the ap-
sorts.
proach of a heavy gale, to ease the mast-
TT Lifts are ropes which reach from each
heads.
mast-head to their respective yard-arms. A
% Travellers are iron rings furnished with
yard is said to be topped when one end of
a piece of rope, one end of which encircles
the yard is raised higher than the other, in
the ring to which it is spliced they are
:
*
The courses are generally understood who would rather risk anything than forego
to be the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizzen, their ancient rules, although many of them
which are the largest and lowest sails on are in the highest degree equally absurd and
their several masts the term is, however,
; dangerous. It is to the wonderful sagacity
sometimes taken in a larger sense. of these philosophers that we owe the sea-
This is particularly mentioned, not be- maxims of avoiding to whistle in a storm,
cause there was, or could be, any dispute at because it will increase the wind of whis- ;
such a' time between the master of a ship tling on the wind in a calm of nailing horse-
;
and his chief mate, as the former can always shoes on the mast, to prevent the power of
command the latter, but to expose the ob- witches of nailing a fair wind to the star-
;
-
For, fluttering loose in air, the rigid sail
* It has been already remarked, that the used on particular occasions in tempestuous
tack always fastened to windward con-
is ; weather, are employed to draw together,
sequently, as soon as it is cast loose, and the and confine the belly of the sail, when in-
clue-garnet is hauled up, the weather clue flated by the wind over the yard.
of the sail immediately mounts to the yard ; § The violence of the gale forcing the
and this operation must be carefully per- yard much out, it could not easily have
formed in a storm, to prevent the sail from been lowered so as to reef the sail, without
splitting, or being torn to pieces by shivering. the application of a tackle, consisting of an
f Whenever the sheet is cast off, it is assemblage of pulleys, to haul it down on
necessary to pull in the weather-brace, to the mast this is afterwards converted into
:
prevent the violent shaking of the sail. rolling tackle, which has been already de-
X The spilling - lines, which are only scribed in a note, p. 94.
— ; ;:
* jfears, or geers, answer the same pur- carry sail ; they are also used as rope-
pose to the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizzen, ladders, by which seamen ascend, or de-
as halyards do to all inferior sails. The scend, to execute whatever is wanting to
tye,a sort of runner, or thick rope, is the be done about the sails and rigging.
upper part of the jears. § Reef-band consists of a piece of canvas
f Reef- lines are only used to reef the sewed across the sail, to strengthen it in
main-sail and fore-sail. the place where the eyelet-holes of the
t Shrouds, so called from the Saxon reefs are formed.
Scrud, consist of a range of thick ropes The outer turns of the earing serve to
||
stretching downwards from the mast-heads extend the sail along its yard the inner ;
to the right and left sides of a ship, in order turns are employed to confine its head-rope
to support the masts, and enable them to close to its surface.
Canto IE] THE SHIPWRECK. 99
WBMM:
-
Ill
* A sea is the general term given by I when such a wave bursts over the deck, the
sailors to an enormous wave and hence,
; I vessel is said to have shipped a sea.
——
:: ; ; ;
tend,
* To weather a shore is to pass to wind- ward ; the helm being fastened close to the
ward of it, which at this time was prevented lee-side, or, in the sea language, hard a-lee,
by the violence of the gale. Drift is that to retain her in that position. (See a further
motion and direction, by which a vessel is illustration in the last note of this Canto.)
forced to leeward sideways, when she is % A tackle, or assemblage of pulleys,
unable any longer to carry sail ; or, at least, which tops the upper end of the mizzen-yard.
is restrained to such a portion of sail, as This line, and the six following, describe
may be necessary to keep her sufficiently the operation of reefing and balancing the
inclined to one side, that she may not be mizzen. The knittle is a short line used to
dismasted by her violent labouring produced reef the sails by the bottom. The throat is
by the turbulence of the sea. that part of the mizzen-yard which is close to
t To try, is to lay the ship with her side the mast.
nearly in the direction of the wind and sea, § Lashed a-lee, is fastened to the lee-side.
with her head somewhat inclined to wind- See note, p. 88.
: : ;
* The companion is a wooden porch one of which is placed before the master, at
placed over the ladder that leads down to his appointed station. In all the old sea-
the cabins of the officers. The binnacle is books it was called bittacle.
a case which is placed on deck before the f The well is an apartment in a ship's
helm, containing three divisions : the middle hold serving to inclose the pumps it is :
one for a lamp or candle, and the two others sounded by dropping down a measured iron
for mariners' compasses. There are always rod, which is connected with a long line.
two binnacles on the deck of a ship of war, The brake is the pump handle.
Q : :: ! ; ; —
deep,
Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep,
* The waist is that part of a ship which steps in descent, from the quarter-deck and
is contained between the quarter-deck and forecastle, she is said to be galley-built
forecastle or the middle of that deck which
; but when it is considerably deeper, as with
is immediately below them. When the six or seven steps, she is then called frigate-
waist of a merchant-ship is only one or two built.
; — :
* The lee-way or drift, in this passage, t Falconera, a small island in the Archi-
are synonymous terms. The true course pelago, to theN.W. of Milo: there is an
and distance, resulting from these traverses, open space of sea to the north and south of
is discovered by collecting the difference of it: but in every other direction are islands
latitude,and departure of each course and ; at no great distance. The small and steep
reducing the whole into one departure, and Island of St. George is situated to the S.W.
one difference of latitude, according to the of Cape Colonna, at the entrance of the
known rules of trigonometry this reduction
: Gulf of Egina. Gardalor lies off the coast
will immediately ascertain the base and of Attica, between Cape Colonna and Porto
perpendicular ; or, in other words, will give Leono.
the difference of latitude and departure, to
discover the course and distance.
— — : -
* The movement of scudding, from the perpetually to the risk of broaching-to ; and
Swedish word skutta, is never attempted in the want of sufficient sea-room : a sea strik-
a contrary wind, unless, as in the present ing the ship violently on the stern may dash
instance, the condition of a ship renders her it inwards, by which she must inevitably
incapable of sustaining any longer on her founder ; in broaching-to suddenly, she is
side the mutual efforts of the winds and threatened with being immediately over-set
waves. The principal hazards incident to and, for want of sea-room, she is endangered
scudding are generally a pooping sea the dif-; with shipwreck on a lee shore ; a circum-
ficulty of steering, which exposes the vessel stance too dreadful to require explanation.
; ; :
* A ship is said to be water-logged, when, from place to place, the stability of the ship
having received through her leaks a great is she is therefore almost totally
utterly lost ;
quantity of water into her hold, she has be- deprived of the use of her sails, which
come so heavy and inactive on the sea, as operate to overset her, or press the head
to yield without resistance to the efforts of under water hence, there is no resource
:
every wave that rushes over the deck. As for the crew, except to free her by the
in this dangerous situation the centre of pumps, or to abandon her for the boats as
gravity is no longer fixed, but fluctuates soon as possible.
; : ; ; —
;; S
to that of scudding; I have quoted a part lies nearly in the trough or hollow of the
: ;
sea in a tempest, particularly when it blows cess of the angle to leeward, is called her
contrary to her course. /ailing off.
In trying, as well as in scudding, the sails Wearing, or wearing, as used in the pre-
are always reduced in proportion to the sent sense, may be defined, the movement
increase of the storm ; and in either state, by which a ship changes her state from try-
if the storm is excessive, she may have all ing to that of scudding, or of running before
her sails furled ; or be, according to the sea- the direction of the wind and sea.
phrase, under bare poles. It is an axiom in natural philosophy,
The intent of spreading a sail at this time "That every body will persevere in a state of
is to keep the ship more steady, and to pre- rest, or of moving uniformly in a right line,
vent her from rolling violently, by pressing unless it its state by
be compelled to change
her side down in the water; and also to forces impressed, and that the change of
turn her head towards the source of the motion is proportional to the moving force
wind, so that the shock of the seas may fall impressed, and made according to the right
more obliquely on herflank, than when she line in which that force acts."
liesalong the trough of the sea, or in the Henceit is easy to conceive how a ship
interval between two waves. While she is compelled to turn into any direction by
lies in this situation, the helm is fastened the force of the wind, acting upon any part
close to the lee-side, to prevent her, as of her length in lines parallel to the plane of
much as possible, from falling to lee-ward. the horizon. Thus, in the act of weering,
But as the ship is not then kept in equili- which is a necessary consequence of this
brio by the operation of her sails, which at invariable principle, the object of the sea-
other times counterbalance each other at man is to reduce the action of the wind on
the head and stern, she is moved by a slow the ship's hind part, and to receive its
but continual vibration, which turns her utmost exertion on her fore part, so that
head alternately to windward and to leeward, the latter may be pushed to leeward. This
forming an angle of 30 or 40 degrees in the effect is either produced by the operation
interval. That part where she stops in of thesails, or by the impression of the wind
approaching the direction of the wind, is on the masts and yards. In the former
called her coming- to; and the contrary ex- case, the sails on the hind part of the ship
; — — : ;
" Haste ! with your weapons cut the shrouds and stay,
"
And hew at once the mizzen-mast away !
are either furled or arranged nearly parallel still remains incapable of answering the
to the direction of the wind, which then helm by turning her prow to leeward.
glides ineffectually along their surfaces ; at Scudding'is that movement in navigation
the same time the foremost sails are spread by which a ship is carried precipitately be-
abroad, so as to receive the greatest exer- fore a tempest.
tion of the wind. The fore part accordingly As a ship flies with amazing rapidity
yields to this impulse, and is put in motion through the water whenever this expedient
and this motion, necessarily conspiring with is put in practice, it is never attempted in a
that of thewind, pushes the ship about as much contrary wind, unless when her condition
as is requisite to produce the desired effect. renders her incapable of sustaining the
But when the tempest is so violent as to mutual effort of the wind and waves any
preclude the use of sails, the effort of the longer on her side, without being exposed
wind operates almost equally on the oppo- to the most imminent danger. A ship
site ends of the ship, because the masts and either scuds with a sail extended on her
yards situated near the head and stern serve foremast, or if the storm is excessive, with-
to counterbalance each other in receiving out any sail, which in the sea-phrase is
its impression. The effect of the helm is called scudding under bare poles.
also considerably diminished, because the The principal hazards incident to scudding
head- way, which gives life and vigour to all are, generally, a sea striking the ship's stern;
its operations, time feeble and
is at this the difficulty of steering, which perpetually
ineffectual. Hence
becomes necessary
it exposes her to the danger of broaching-to
to destroy this equilibrium which subsists and the want of sufficient sea-room. A sea
between the masts and yards before and which strikes the stern violently may shatter
behind, and to throw the balance forward it to pieces, by which the ship must inevi-
to prepare for weering. If this cannot be tably founder. By broaching-to suddenly,
effectedby the arrangement of the yards she is threatened with losing all her masts
on the masts, and it becomes absolutely and sails, or being immediately overturned :
necessary to weer, in order to save the ship and, for want of sea-room, she exposed is
from destruction, the mizzen-mast must be to the danger of being wrecked on a lee-
cut away, and even the main-mast, if she shore.
:
^Wt~^
—A
THE ARGUMENT.
II. Wreck of the Mizzen-mast cleared— Ship Veers before the Wind — Labours Hard
away
—Different Stations of the Officers — Appearance of the Island of Falconera. — III. Ex-
cursion to the adjacent Nations of Greece Renowned in Antiquity —Athens — Socrates,
and Penelope —Argos and Mycaene —Agamemnon — Macronisi— Lemnos —Vulcan — Delos
—Apollo and Diana—Troy— Sestos— Leander and Hero — Delphos—Temple of Apollo
Parnassus —The Muses. — IV. Subject resumed—Address to the Spirits of the Storm —
Tempest, accompanied with Rain, Hail, and Meteors — Darkness of the Night, Lightning
and Thunder — Daybreak — George's St. open upon them—The Ship in great Dan-
Cliffs
ger passes the Island of George. — V. Land of Athens appears — Helmsman struck Blind
St.
by Lightning— Ship laid broadside to the Shore — Bowsprit, Foremast, and Main Topmast
carried away — Albert, Rodmond, Arion, and Palemon, strive to Save themselves on the
Wreck of the Foremast — The Ship parts asunder— Death of Albert and Rodmond — Arion
reaches the Shore — Finds Palemon Expiring on the Beach — His Dying Address to Arion,
:--^i^y c
Canto Cjjirfc.
&-.
HEN in a barbarous age, with blood defiled,
The human savage roamed the gloomy wild;
When sullen Ignorance her flag displayed,
And rapine and revenge her voice obeyed
Sent from the shores of light, the Muses came
The dark and solitary race to tame,
" Square fore and aft the yards," * the master calls;
* The wind is said to enlarge, when it I square the yards is, in this place, to haul
veers from the side towards the stern. To I
them directly across the ship's length.
— : : : :
* Steady 1 is an order to steer the ship take larboard for starboard. In all large
according to the line on which she then ad- ships, the tiller (or long bar of timber that
vances, without deviating to the right or left. is fixed horizontally to the upperend of the
f The left side of a ship is called port, in rudder) guided by a wheel, which acts
is
steering, that the helmsman may not mis- upon it with the powers of a crane or windlass.
: —
: ;
* Poop, from the Latin word fiupfiis, is side forward, beginning at the place where
the hindmost and highest deck of a ship. the planks arch inwards, and terminating
The boiv is the rounding part of a ship's where they close at the stern or prow.
—
;
* On the beam, implies any distance from northward, any object lying east or west is
the ship on a line with the beams, or at right said to be on her starboard or larboard
angles with the keel : thus, if the ship steers beam.
; ;; :;
* Porto Leone, the ancient Pirseum, re- I white marble, since carried by the Venetians
ceived its modern title from a large lion of I
to their arsenal.
:
Ah who unmoved
! with secret woe, can tell
* [This compliment to his countryman I lad, "The Birks of Endermay," was omitte J
David Mallet, author of the beautiful bal- 1 by Falconer in his third edition.]
: ;
ftv<tl»->'
strains
* The quarter is the hinder part of a ship's side ; or that part which is near the stern.
— ;: :: : : :
* The great difficulty of steering the ship often forces her stern round, and brings her
at this time before the wind, is occasioned broadside to the wind and sea : this is an
by its striking her on the quarter, when she effect of the same cause which is explained
makes the least angle on either side which ; in the last note of the second canto.
: : :
defaced,
Where marble columns, long by time
are placed;
Moss-covered, on the lofty Cape
There reared by fair devotion to sustain
fane;
In elder times Tritonia's sacred
:: : ! 1
* The main top-mast stay comes to the wood, used to confine the upper and lower
fore-mast head, and consequently depends masts together, as the one is raised at the
upon the fore-mast as its support. head of the other. The principal caps of a
t The cap is a strong, thick block of ship are those of the lower masts.
: ! —
:
* The sea at this time ran so high, that I mast head without being washed over-'
it was impossible to descend from the I board.
Canto III. \ THE SHIPWRECK. 155
ii
; : —— ! ;: !
-"sed scilicet ultima semper [" But no frail man, however great or
Expectanda dies homini dicique beattis
; high,
Ante obitum nemo supre7naque funera Can be concluded blessed before he
debet." die."
Ovid, Met., lib. iii. Addison.]
: : ! ; "
1 66 THE SHIPWRECK.
OCCASIONAL ELEGY.
The scene of death is closed ! the mournful strains
[* We have given the Elegy as it appears O'er her soft frame diseases sternly crept,
in the author's latest edition, In the previous And gave the lovely victim to the tomb.
impression the following verses (which un-
doubtedly mar the poetical effect) follow the
A longer date of woe, the widowed wife
third verse :
Her lamentable lot afflicted bore
Yet both were rescued from the chains of
" From young Arion life
first the news received
With terror, pale unhappy Anna read Before Arion reached his native shore !"
With inconsolable distress she grieved, The father unrelenting phrenzy stung,
And from her" cheek the rose of beauty Untaught in Virtue's school distress to
fled:
bear
Severe remorse his tortured bosom wrung,
In vain, alas! the gentle virgin wept, He languished, groaned, and perished in
Corrosive anguish nipt her vital bloom despair."]
; : : ; :: ;;
ii
91
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