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Though now full oft they felt the raging Tide
In proud rebellion climb the Vessel's side;
Though every rising Wave more dreadful grows,
And in succession dire the Deck o'erflows;
No future ills unknown their souls appal,
They know no Danger, or they scorn it all:
But e'en the generous spirits of the Brave,
Subdued by toil, a friendly respite crave;
They, with severe fatigue alone opprest,
Would fain indulge an interval of rest.

Far other cares the MASTER'S mind employ,
Approaching Perils all his hopes destroy:
In vain he spreads the graduated Chart,
And bounds the distance by the rules of art;
Across the geometric Plane expands
The compasses to circumjacent lands;
Ungrateful task! for, no asylum found,

Death yawns on every leeward shore around.-
While ALBERT thus, with horrid doubts dismayed,
The geometric distances surveyed;

On deck the watchful RODMOND cries aloud,

Secure your lives! grasp every man a Shroud—

Roused from his trance, he mounts with eyes aghast;

When o'er the Ship, in undulation vast,

A giant Surge down rushes from on high,

And fore and aft dissevered ruins tie:

As when, BRITANNIA's Empire to maintain,

Great HAWKE descends in thunder on the Main,
Around the brazen voice of battle roars,

And fatal lightnings blast the hostile shores;
Beneath the Storm their shattered Navies groan;
The trembling Deep recoils from zone to zone—
Thus the torn Vessel felt th' enormous stroke,

The Boats beneath the thundering deluge broke;
Torn from their planks the cracking ring-bolts drew,

And gripes and lashings all asunder flew;
Companion, Binacle, in floating wreck,

With Compasses and Glasses strewed the Deck;
The balanced Mizen, rending to the head,

In fluttering fragments from its bolt-rope fled;
The Sides convulsive shook on groaning Beams,
And, rent with labour, yawned their pitchy Seams.
They sound the Well, and, terrible to hear!

Five feet immersed along the Line appear:

At either Pump they ply the clanking brake,
And, turn by turn, th' ungrateful office take :
RODMOND, ARION and PALEMON here

At this sad Task all diligent appear—
As some strong Citadel begirt with foes
Tries long the tide of ruin to oppose,
Destruction near her spreads his black array,

And Death and Sorrow mark his horrid

way:

Till, in some destined hour, against her wall
In tenfold rage the fatal thunders fall;

It breaks! it bursts before the cannonade!

And following hosts the shattered Domes invade :
Her inmates long repel the hostile Flood,

And shield their sacred charge in streams of blood :
So the brave Mariners their Pumps attend,
And help incessant, by rotation, lend;

But all in vain! for now the sounding Cord,
Updrawn, an undiminished depth explor'd.
Nor this severe distress is found alone,
The Ribs opprest by ponderous cannon groan;
Deep rolling from the watery volume's height,
The tortur'd Sides seem bursting with their weight-

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So reels PELORUS with convulsive throes,

When in his veins the burning Earthquake glows;
Hoarse through his entrails roars th' infernal flame,
And central Thunders rend his groaning frame---
Accumulated mischiefs thus arise,

And Fate, vindictive, all their skill defies:
For this, one remedy is only known,

From the torn Ship her metal must be thrown;
Eventful Task! which last distress requires,
And dread of instant Death alone inspires:
For, while intent the yawning decks to ease,
Filled ever and anon with rushing Seas,
Some fatal billow with recoiling sweep
May whirl the helpless Wretches in the Deep.
No season this for counsel or delay;
Too soon th' eventful moments haste away!
Here Perseverance, with each help of Art,

Must join the boldest efforts of the heart;
These only now their misery can relieve,

These only now a dawn of safety give.
While o'er the quivering deck from van to rear
Broad surges roll in terrible career,

RODMOND, ARION, and a chosen crew,

This office in the face of death pursue;

The wheeled Artillery o'er the deck to guide,
RODMOND descending claimed the weather-side;

Fearless of heart the CHIEF his orders gave,

Fronting the rude assaults of

every Wave--

Like some strong Watch-tower nodding o'er the Deep,

Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep,

Untamed he stood; the stern aërial war

Had marked his honest face with many a scar;
Meanwhile ARION, traversing the Waist,
The cordage of the leeward-guns unbraced,
And pointed crows beneath the Metal placed.
Watching the roll, their forelocks they withdrew,
And from their beds the reeling Cannon threw;
Then, from the windward battlements unbound,
RODMOND's associates wheeled th' artillery round;
Pointed with iron fangs, their bars beguile
The ponderous Arms across the steep defile;
Then, hurled from sounding hinges o'er the side,
Thundering they plunge into the flashing Tide

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