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-
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
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.
The Ship, thus eased, some little respite finds In this rude conflict of the Seas and WindsSuch ease ALCIDES felt when, clogged with gore, Th' envenom'd Mantle from his side he tore,
When, stung with burning pain, he strove too late
To stop the swift career of cruel Fate;
Yet then his heart one ray of Hope procured,
Sad harbinger of sevenfold pangs endured-
Such, and so short, the pause of woe She found!
Cimmerian darkness shades the Deep around,
Save when the lightnings in terrific blaze
Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays:
Above, all Ether fraught with scenes of woe
With grim destruction threatens all below;
Beneath, the storm-lashed Surges furious rise,
And wave uprolled on wave assails the skies;
With ever-floating bulwarks they surround
The Ship, half swallowed in the black profound.
With ceaseless hazard and fatigue opprest,
Dismay and anguish every heart possest;
For while, with sweeping inundation o'er
The sea-beat Ship, the booming Waters roar,
Displaced beneath by her capacious womb,
They rage their ancient station to resume;
By secret ambushes, their force to prove,
Through many a winding channel first they rove;
Till gathering fury, like the fevered blood,
Through her dark veins they roll a rapid flood:
When unrelenting thus the Leaks they found,
The clattering Pumps with clanking strokes resound;
Around each leaping valve, by toil subdued,
The tough bull-hide must ever be renewed:
Their sinking hearts unusual horrors chill,
And down their weary limbs thick dews distil;
No ray of light their dying Hope redeems,
Pregnant with some new woe, each moment teems.
Again the Chief th' instructive Chart extends,
And o'er the figured plane attentive bends;
To him the motion of each orb was known
That wheels around the Sun's refulgent throne;
But here, alas! his Science nought avails,
Skill droops unequal, and experience fails:
The different Traverses, since twilight made,
He on the hydrographic circle laid;
Then, in the graduated Arch contained,
The angle of lee-way, seven points, remained— Her place discovered by the rules of art,
Unusual terrors shook the Master's heart
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