Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1860-05-19
The Lost Steamship.
sY rJTz-JAMEs ~o'BRIEH.

"Ho there! Fisherman, hold your hand!
Tell me what is that far away
There where over the Isle of Sand
Hangs the m,st-cloud sullen and gray.
See it rocks with a CHASTITY life,
Rising and rolling through clouds Of spra
Right in the midst of the breakers strife
Tell me what it is, Fisherman: pray"
THAT, good Sir, was a steamer stout
As ever padcleJ around Cape Race
And many's the wild and stormy bout
She had with the winds in that self-sam
place;
But her time was come and at ten o'clock
Last night she struck on that Ionesom
shore;
And her sides were knawed by the hide
And at dawn this morning she was n
more"
Come, as you seem to know, good man,
The terrible fate Of this gallant ship,
Tell RE about her all that you can
And here's my flask to moisten your lip.
Tell me how many she had aboard
Wives and husbands, and lovers trae-
How did it fare with her human hoard
Lost she many or lost she few -
Master, Imay not drink Of your flask,
Alreody too moist I feel my lip;
But Pm ready to do what else you ask,
And spin you my yarn about the ship;
Twas ten o'clock, as said last night,
When she struck the breakers and went
ashore
AID ~narcn h,l l~ol,nr ~ nnor,pv 11uh<
Than she sank in twelve feet of water, OF
But long ere this they knew her doom,
And the Captain called all hands TO prayer;
And soIemnly over the oceans boom
The prisons rose on the tioublous air.
And round about the vessel there rose
Tall plunes Of spray as white as snow,
Like angels in their ascension clothes:
Waiting tor those who prayed below.
So these three hundred people chung
As we'll as they could to spar and rope;
With a word Of prayer upon every tongue,
Nor on any face a glimmer OF hope.
But there was no biubbering weak and wild
Of fearful faces I saw bat one,
A rough old salt, who cried like a child,
And not for himself, but the Captains son."
VI. BsEi , asF sit
"The Captain stood on the quarter deck,
Firm but pale, with trumpet in hand
Sometimes he looked at the breaking wreck;
Sometimes he sadly looked to land.
And often he smiled to cheer the crew
But, Lord, the smile was terrible grim
Till over the quarter a huge sea flew;
And that was the last they saw of him.
=" saw one young fellow, with his bride,
Standing amidships upon the wreck;
His face was white as the boiling tide.
And she was clinging about his neck.
And l saw them try to say good bye,
But neither could hear the other speak;
So they dosted away through the sea to die
Shoulder to shoulder, and cheek to cheek.
"And there was a child, but eight at best,
Who went his way in a sea he shipped
And the while holding upon his breast
A little pet parrot whose wings were
clipped.
And as the boy and the bird went by,
Swinging away on 4 tall waves crest;
They were gripped by q man with a drown
And together the three went down to rest.
sand so the crew went one by one,
Some with gIadness, and few with fear; I
Cold and hardship such work had done
That few seemed frightened when death
was near. .-,
Thus every soul on board went down
Sailor and passenger, little and great;
The last that sunk was a man Of my town.
A capital swimmer-the second mate"
Now, lonely Fisherman, who are you,
That saw Won saw this terrible wrock
How do / know what you say is true,
When every mortal was swept from the
deck?
Where were you in that hour of death?
How did You learn what you relate
His answer came in an under-breatb-
Master, l was the second mate