Hold the reel! Keep her full! Hold the reel!
How she flew athwart the spray, as, shipmates, we do now,
Till her twice a hundred fearless hearts of steel
Felt the whirlwind lift its waters aft and plunge her downward bow!
Bear a hand!
Strike to’gallants! Mind your helm! Jump aloft!
’Twas such a night as this, my lads, a rakish bark was drowned,
When demons foul, that whisper seamen oft,
Scooped a tomb amid the flashing surge that never shall be found.
Square the yards! A double reef! Hark! the blast!