And others went on as they had begun, Getting the boats out, being well aware XLVI. The worst of all was, that in their condition, Having been several days in great distress, "Twas difficult to get out such provision As now might render their long suffering less: Men, even when dying, dislike inanition; (2) Their stock was damaged by the weather's stress: Two casks of biscuit, and a keg of butter, Were all that could be thrown into the cutter. XLVII. But in the long-boat they contrived to stow Some pounds of bread, though injured by the wet; Water, a twenty-gallon cask or so; Six flasks of wine; and they contrived to get A portion of their beef up from below, (3) And with a piece of pork, moreover, met But scarce enough to serve them for a luncheon— Then there was rum, eight gallons in a puncheon. (1) ["Some appeared perfectly resigned, went to their hammocks, and desired their messmates to lash them in; others were for securing themselves to gratings and small rafts; but the most predominant idea was that of putting on their best and cleanest clothes. The boats were got over the side."-Ibid.] (2) [MS. "Men will prove hungry, even when next perdition."] (3) ["Eight bags of rice, six flasks of wine, and a small quantity of salted beef and pork, were put into the long-boat, as provisions for the whole."- Wreck of the Sydney.] XLVIII. The other boats, the yawl and pinnace, had As there were but two blankets for a sail, (2) Threw in by good luck over the ship's rail; And two boats could not hold, far less be stored, To save one half the people then on board. XLIX. 'Twas twilight, and the sunless day went down Over the waste of waters; like a veil, Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown Of one whose hate is mask'd but to assail, (3) Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown, And grimly darkled o'er the faces pale, And the dim desolate deep: twelve days had Fear Been their familiar, and now Death was here. L. Some trial had been making at a raft, A sort of thing at which one would have laugh'd, (4) (1) ["The yawl was stove alongside and sunk."- Centaur.] (2) ["One oar was erected for a main-mast, and the other bent to the breadth of the blankets for a sail."— Loss of the Wellington Transport.] (3) [MS." Which being withdrawn, discloses but the frown Of one who hates us, so the night was shown," &c.] (4) ["As rafts had been mentioned by the carpenter, I thought it right to make the attempt. It was impossible for any man to deceive himself with the hopes of being saved on a raft in such a sea as this."— Centaur.] Unless with people who too much have quaff'd, LI. At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hencoops, spars, Then shriek'd the timid, and stood still the brave,Then some leap'd overboard with dreadful yell,(3) As eager to anticipate their grave; And the sea yawn'd around her like a hell, And down she suck'd with her the whirling wave, Like one who grapples with his enemy, And strives to strangle him before he die. (1) ["Spars, booms, hencoops, and every thing buoyant, were therefore cast loose, that the men might have some chance to save themselves; for the boats were at some distance."- Loss of the Pandora.] (2) ["We had scarcely quitted the ship, when she gave a heavy lurch to port, and then went down, head foremost."— Lady Hobart.] (3) ["At this instant, one of the officers told the captain she was going down, and bidding him farewell, leapt overboard: the crew had just time to leap overboard, which they did, uttering a most dreadful yell."— Pandora.] LIII. And first one universal shriek there rush'd, LIV. The boats, as stated, had got off before, Than what it had been, for so strong it blew Nine in the cutter, thirty in the boat, Were counted in them when they got afloat. LV. All the rest perish'd; near two hundred souls Had left their bodies; and what's worse, alas! When over Catholics the ocean rolls, They must wait several weeks before a mass (1) [It is an awful moment when a ship takes her last heel, just before going down. When the "Pandora" sunk, the surgeon says, "the crew had just time to leap overboard, accompanying it with a most dreadful yell. The cries of the men drowning in the water was at first awful in the extreme; but as they sunk and became faint, they died away by degrees!" How ACCURATELY HAS BYRON DESCRIBED THE WHOLE PROGRESS OF A SHIPWRECK, to the final catastrophe! BARROW'S History of the Bounty.] Takes off one peck of purgatorial coals, Because, till people know what's come to pass, They won't lay out their money on the deadIt costs three francs for every mass that's said. LVI. Juan got into the long-boat, and there Which courage gives, while poor Pedrillo's pair LVII. Pedro, his valet, too, he tried to save, But the same cause, conducive to his loss, Left him so drunk, he jump'd into the wave As o'er the cutter's edge he tried to cross, And so he found a wine-and-watery grave; They could not rescue him although so close, Because the sea ran higher every minute, And for the boat-the crew kept crowding in it. LVIII. A small old spaniel,—which had been Don Jóse's, His father's, whom he loved, as ye may think, For on such things the memory reposes With tenderness-stood howling on the brink, |