His self (unseen until a danger breaks)
Serves as a man, but when the peril comes
And weak souls turn to water, his awakes
Like bright salvation among martyrdoms.
Then, with the danger mastered, once again
He goes behind his doors and draws the chain.
Captain Cary, who had made the Pathfinder a famous ship, thought him the best officer he had ever had.
The Pathfinder was the last and finest of Messrs. Wrattson & Willis’s sugar clippers. She made some famous passages in the sugar and wool trades before she went the way of her kind. She has been mentioned in several sonnets:
She lies at grace, at anchor, head to tide,
The wind blows by in vain: she lets it be.