The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-07-24
Chr dlaily . ,lletin.
SATURDAY, JULY "a, 1886.
A TERRIBLE NIGHT AT SEA.
AN OLD YARN LAID INTO NEW ROPE

And oil dangers upon the sea,
But once heard a tale of a leak-spring-
ing gale,
That made an impression on me.
And l II tell you this tale as twas tolp
to me,
BY weather-worn truthful old Tar
His nose badly scraped, and his eyes
sadly draped,
Through au accident, crossing the bar.
The old man began by removing quid
From between his back jaw and his
cheek,
With Il hitch at his pants, us Salts do
ere they dance,
And back handed wipe at his
beak =
1t was on the good ship Incubus.
All in the China seas,
With our helm a-lee, and our horse
pipes free,
We sailed before the breeze.
The sea was calm. and the wind was
fair,
As the sun in his grandeur set;
But fierce typhoon, with the rising
moon,
Wrought change shall ne'er forget.
In far less time than it takes to tell,
The waves overleaped our truck,
And fore and aft, on our shivering craft,
The pillows were running a-mnck.
Our sails were torn into tatters and rags,
Not stitch was left on the yards;
And the started elects of the bobstay
sheets
Were washed DER the after-guards.
Our tafrail stove in the capstan head
Crushing Jimmy the Duck Tenders
put:
And lee main brace struck the Third
Mates face.
And bruised it as black as SCOT.
Heart-rendering sobs from the pigs
penned aft,
Who felt that their ends were nigh.
Lent their piercing aid to the folks that
prayed,
And We'd with the Storm Fiend's cry.
The Sea Nymphs shrieked and the Mer-
maids laughed,
As they skipped DER the surging
waves.
Through the coal-black gloom. came
the stunsel boom.
Like Il moan from deep watery
graves.
Huge sharks began gnawing our plank
| sheer off.
| Each bent upon human slaughter,
| Till from further attack they We're
back
BY our Captains noble daughter.
With soft white hands that brave young
girl
Kept the coppers hot through the
night.
And, with aim so true, scalding water
threw.
| Depriving the sharks of sight!
| The batlied monsters fled in pain,
By that slender angel defied-
But half hour more, and their thirst
for gore
Would sure have been satisfied.
The waves played high, and the sea-
brough low,
The Storm King with Jack made
game:
The seabirds screeched. and the dol
| phins preached
And the lightning darted flame.
And twas Captain Towline who thus
did speak
To our Mate, on the lniZzen hatch,
Whilst our BOsen bold, in the lower
hold,
Was winding his larboard watch:
''How heads our ill-starred ship to-
night,
How heads our fated craft?''
1.-The heads due East, half West by
South.
With the pinnacle hard a-baft!"
'.Then haul the pinnacle hard a-port,
And board the mizZen tack:
Breast off the clouds from the futtOck
shrouds,
Or you'll have the ship a-back!
"And what does the SeXtant indicate,
And how does the Quadrant stand?"
1.-The Quadrant points to the freezing
joints,
And the SeXtant has lost hand!'
"Ah. then, if the SeXtant has lost
| hand,
And the Quadrant has sunk SO low,
All our flesh and bones, down to Davy
Jones,
On this dreadful night will go!
Come, lay aloft on the cardboard
streak,
Unreeve the spanker boom;
Bend studding-sail on the martini
gale,
To give her weather room.
San hands stand by to skip aloft,
Aud send down every spar;
Now, bear hand, or soon you'll stand,
Before the Judgment Bar!
"And, Bosen, what water have YOU
found,
Down there in our leaky craft?'
"Four feet, all told, in the forward hold,
And fresh leaks fore and aft"
sailors, quick, collar your marline-
spikes,
And each grab belaying-pin;
Come, stir your stumps, and spike the
| pumps,
Or more will be coming in"
We stirred our stumps. we spiked the
pumps,
We spliced the mizzen brace,
We worked with will, for hours, but
still
The water kept gaining apace.
We bored hole clear through the keel,
To let the water out,
But, strange to say, to Our great dismay,
The water in did spout
The sharks had gnawed our poor ships
sides
Till she was merely shell.
And oft through the gloom came the
| Sunsets boom,
With the sounds of a funeral bell.
| We trippl the eat heads IN tho trn.l