The night was dark and stormy;
The bay was wild and wide;
And, deftly weigh’d, each paddle-blade
Like velvet stroked the tide.
They near’d the English frigates,
They heard their sentries’ feet,
They heard a bell, and then “All’s well”[9]
Re-echo’d through the fleet.
They pull’d around a guard-boat[9];
They struck the land, and then