The inmates are now filled with fear,
Destruction seeming so near;
The vessel rent in awful chasms,
Waxing weaker, weaker she seems.
* * * * *
Anon is heard great commotion,
Roaring for spoil is the lion;
The vessel’s own final struggles
Are fierce, while the crew trembles.
The hurricane increasing
Over the grim sea is driving,
Drowning loud moans, burying all
In its passage dismal.
How hard their fate, O how they wept
In that sad hour of miseries heap’d;
Some sighed, others prayed fervently,
Others mad, or in despair did cry.
Affrighted they ran to and fro,
To flee from certain death and woe;
While he, with visage grim and dark,
Would still surround the doomed bark.
Deep night now veiled the firmament,
While sombre clouds thicker were sent
To hide each star, the ocean’s rage
No cries of grief could even assuage.
The vessel sinks beneath the might
Of wind, and wave, and blackest night,
While through the severed planks was heard
The breaker’s splash, with anger stirred.