Shipwreck

"It was a touching answer of a Christian sailor, when asked why he remained so calm in a fearful storm, when the sea seemed ready to devour the ship. He was not sure that he could swim. "But," he said, "though I sink I shall only drop into the hollow of my Father's hand; for He holds all these waters there.""

"Some hoisted out the boats, and there was one That begged Pedrillo for an absolution, Who told him to be damn'd,—in his confusion."

"Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell— Then shriek'd the timid, and stood still the brave,— Then some leap'd overboard with fearful yell, As eager to anticipate their grave."

"Again she plunges! hark! a second shock Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock; Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries, The fated victims shuddering cast their eyes In wild despair; while yet another stroke With strong convulsion rends the solid oak: Ah Heaven!—behold her crashing ribs divide! She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the tide."

"And fast through the midnight dark and drear, Through the whistling sleet and snow, Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept Towards the reef of Norman's Woe."

"O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished."

"A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats Instinctively have quit it."

"Naufragium sibi quisque facit."

"Through the black night and driving rain A ship is struggling, all in vain, To live upon the stormy main;— Miserere Domine!"

"But hark! what shriek of death comes in the gale, And in the distant ray what glimmering sail Bends to the storm?—Now sinks the note of fear! Ah? wretched mariners!—no more shall day Unclose his cheering eye to light ye on your way!"

"Every drunken skipper trusts to Providence. But one of the ways of Providence with drunken skippers is to run them on the rocks."

"Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit."

"Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto."

"Or shipwrecked, kindles on the coast False fires, that others may be lost."