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, When, on th’ immediate line of drift, he found The rugged isle, with rocks and breakers bound, Of Falconera; distant only now Nine lessening leagues beneath the leeward bow; For, if on those destructive shallows tost, The helpless bark with all her crew are lost; As fatal still appears, that danger o’er, The steep St. George, and rocky Gardalor. With him the pilots, of their hopeless state, In mournful consultation, long debate— Not more perplexing doubts her chiefs appal When some proud city verges to her fall, While ruin glares around, and pale affright Convenes her councils in the dead of night. No blazoned trophies o’er their concave spread, Nor storied pillars raised aloft their head: But here the queen of shade around them threw Her dragon wing, disastrous to the view! Dire was the scene with whirlwind, hail, and shower; Black Melancholy ruled the fearful hour: Beneath, tremendous rolled the flashing tide, Where Fate on every billow seemed to ride— Enclosed with ills, by peril unsubdued, Great in distress the master-seaman stood! Skilled to command; deliberate to advise; Expert in action; and in council wise— Thus to his partners, by the crew unheard, The dictates of his soul the Chief referred: “Ye faithful mates! who all my troubles share, Approved companions of your master’s care! To you, alas! ’twere fruitless now to tell Our sad distress, already known too well: This morn with favouring gales the port we left, Though now of every flattering hope bereft: No skill, nor long experience could forecast Th’ unseen approach of this destructive blast; These seas, where storms at various seasons blow, No reigning winds nor certain omens know: The hour, th’ occasion, all your skill demands, A leaky ship, embayed by dangerous lands!