Thus said the rushing raven Unto his hungry mate: “Ho, gossip! for Bude Haven! There be corpses six or eight. Cawk, cawk! the crew and skipper Are wallowing in the sea, So there’s a savoury supper For my old dame and me!” “Cawk! gaffer! thou art dreaming: The shore hath wreckers bold, Would rend the yelling seamen From the clutching billows’ hold! Cawk, cawk! they’d bound for booty Into the dragon’s den, And shout, ‘For death or duty!’ If the prey were drowning men.” Loud laughed the listening surges At the guess our grandam gave: You might call them Boanerges From the thunder of their wave! And mockery followed after The sea-bird’s jeering brood, That filled the skies with laughter From Lundy Light to Bude. “Cawk, cawk!” then said the raven: “I am fourscore years and ten, Yet never in Bude Haven Did I croak for rescued men! They will save the captain’s girdle, And shirt,[24] if shirt there be, But leave their blood to curdle For my old dame and me.” So said the rushing raven Unto his hungry mate: “Ho, gossip! for Bude Haven! There be corpses six or eight. Cawk, cawk! the crew and skipper Are wallowing in the sea: Oh, what a dainty supper For my old dame and me!” A gentleman who was a witness of this wreck tells me: “We saw the carpenter swimming ashore. He was a magnificent man, largely built, with sinews and muscles of great strength. He swam boldly and desperately, but badly, as he kept his breast above the water, so that he must have been much beaten and bruised by the waves. We saw how his strength gradually gave way, and then he seemed to rally, and make another despairing effort. We succeeded in getting hold of him at last, and brought him ashore. Unfortunately there was no doctor by, or any one who was experienced in dealing with cases of drowning. We did as best we knew, following the old usage of throwing him across a barrel. _Now_ I know that it was the worst treatment possible. Had a medical man been at hand, it is my conviction that the poor fellow would have been saved. His blood was not curdled when we got him ashore, and I saw it settle into his breast afterwards. It is an unpleasant thought, that a life was sacrificed for want of knowledge.”