The order given, up springing with a bound,
They fix the bars, and heave the windlass round,
At ev'ry turn the clanging pauls resound:
Up-torn reluctant from its oozy cave
The pond'rous anchor rises o'er the wave.
High on the slipp'ry masts the yards ascend,
And far abroad the canvass wings extend.
Along the glassy plain the vessel glides,
While azure radiance trembles on her sides;
The lunar rays in long reflection gleam,
With silver deluging the fluid stream.
Levant and Thracian gales alternate play,
Then in th' Egyptian quarter die away.
A calm ensues; adjacent shores they dread,
The boats, with rowers mann'd, are sent ahead;
With cordage fasten'd to the lofty prow,
Aloof to sea the stately ship they tow;
The nervous crew their sweeping oars extend,
And pealing shouts the shore of Candia rend:
Success attends their skill! the danger's o'er!
The port is doubled, and beheld no more.

Now Morn with gradual pace advanc'd on high,
Whitening with orient beam the twilight sky:
She comes not in refulgent pomp array'd,
But frowning stern, and wrapt in sullen shade.
Above incumbent mists, tall Ida's height,
Tremendous rock! emerges on the sight;
North-east, a league, the isle of Standia bears,
And westward, Freschin's woody cape appears.

In distant angles while the transient gales
Alternate blow, they trim the flagging sails;
The drowsy air attentive to retain,

As from unnumber'd points it sweeps the main.
Now swelling stud-sails on each side extend,
Then stay-sails sidelong to the breeze ascend;
While all to court the veering winds are plac'd,
With yards alternate square, and sharply brac'd.
The dim horizon lowering vapours shroud,
And blot the Sun yet struggling in the cloud;
Through the wide atmosphere condens'd with haze,
His glaring orb emits a sanguine blaze.
The pilots now their azimuth attend,
On which all courses, duly form'd, depend:
The compass plac'd to catch the rising ray,
The quadrant's shadows studious they survey;
Along the arch the gradual index slides,
While Phoebus down the vertic-circle glides;
Now, seen on ocean's utmost verge to swim,
He sweeps it vibrant with his nether limb.

wind in the cable, or heave up the anchor. It is turned about vertically by a number of long bars, or levers, in which operation it is prevented from recoiling, by the pauls.

4 Towing is the operation of drawing a ship forward, by means of ropes, extending from her forepart to one or more of the boats rowing before her.

5 Studding-sails are long, narrow sails, which are only used in fine weather and fair winds, on the outside of the larger square-sails. Stay-sails are three-cornered sails, which are hoisted up on the stays, when the wind crosses the ship's course either directly or obliquely.

Thus height and polar distance are obtain❜d,
Then latitude and declination gain'd;
In Chiliads next th' analogy is sought,
And on the sinical triangle wrought:
By this magnetic variance is explor'd,
Just angles known, and polar truth restor❜d.
The natives, while the ship departs their land,
Ashore with admiration gazing stand.
Majestically slow before the breeze
She mov'd triumphant o'er the yielding seas:
Her bottom through translucent waters shone,
White as the clouds beneath the blaze of noon;
The bending wales 7 their contrast next display'd,
All fore and aft in polish'd jet array'd.
Britannia riding awful on the prow,

Gaz'd on the vassal waves that roll'd below:
Where'er she mov'd the vassal waves were seen
To yield obsequious, and confess their queen.
Th' imperial trident grac'd her dexter hand,
Of pow'r to rule the surge like Moses' wand;
Th' eternal empire of the main to keep,
And guide her squadrons o'er the trembling deep.
Her left, propitious, bore a mystic shield,
Around whose margin rolls the wat'ry field;
There her bold genius in his floating car
O'er the wild billow hurls the storm of war:
And lo! the beasts, that oft with jealous rage
In bloody combat met, from age to age,
Tam'd into union, yok'd in Friendship's chain,
Draw his proud chariot round the vanquish'd main:
From the proud margin to the centre grew
Shelves, rocks, and whirlpools, hideous to the view.
Th' immortal shield from Neptune she receiv'd,
When first her head above the waters heav'd-
Loose floated o'er her limbs an azure vest,
A figur'd 'scutcheon glitter'd on her breast;
There from one parent soil, for ever young,
The blooming rose and hardy thistle sprung.
Around her head an oaken wreath was seen
Inwove with laurels of unfading green.

Such was the sculptur'd prow; from van to rear
Th' artillery frown'd, a black tremendous tier!
Embalm'd with orient gum, above the wave
The swelling sides a yellow radiance gave.
On the broad stern, a pencil warm and bold,
That never servile rules of art controll'd,
An allegoric tale on high pourtray'd;
There a young hero, here a royal maid:
Fair England's genius, in the youth exprest,
Her ancient foe, but now her friend confest,
The warlike nymph with fond regard survey'd;
No more his hostile frown her heart dismay'd:
His look, that once shot terrour from afar
Like young Alcides, or the god of war,
Serene, yet firm, though mild, impressing awe:
Serene as Summer's evening skies she saw;

Her nervous arm, inur'd to toils severe,
Brandish'd th' unconquer'd Caledonian spear:
The dreadful falchion of the hills she wore,
Sung to the harp in many a tale of yore,
That oft her rivers dy'd with hostile gore.
Blue was her rocky shield; her piercing eye
Flash'd like the meteors of her native sky;

But soon, this transient undulation o'er,
The sea subsides, the whirlwinds rage no more.
While southward now th' increasing breezes veer,
Dark clouds incumbent on their wings appear;
Ahead they see the consecrated grove
Of cypress, sacred once to Cretan Jove.
The ship beneath her lofty pressure reels,
And to the fresh'ning gale still deeper heels.
But now, beneath the lofty vessel's stern,
A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern,
Beaming from burnish'd scales refulgent rays,
Till all the glowing ocean seems to blaze:
In curling wreaths they wanton on the tide,
Now bound aloft, now downward swiftly glide;
Awhile beneath the waves their tracks remain,
And burn in silver streams along the liquid plain.
Soon to the sport of death the crew repair,
Dart the long lance, or spread the baited snare.
One in redoubling mazes wheels along,
And glides unhappy near the triple prong:
Rodmond, unerring, o'er his head suspends
The barbed steel, and ev'ry turn attends;
Unerring aim'd, the missile weapon flew,
And, plunging, struck the fated victim through;
Th' upturning points his pondrous bulk sustain,
On deck he struggles with convulsive pain:
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills,
And flitting life escapes in sanguine rills,
What radiant changes strike th' astonish'd sight!
What glowing hues of mingled shade and light!
Not equal beauties gild the lucid west
With parting beams all o'er profusely drest,
Not lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn
When orient dews impearl th' enamell'd lawn,
Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow,
That now with gold empyreal seem to glow;
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view,
And emulate the soft celestial hue;
Now beam a flaming crimson on the eye,
And now assume the purple's deeper dye:
But here description clouds each shining ray,
What terms of art can Nature's pow'rs display!
The lighter sails, for summer winds and seas,
Are now dismiss'd, the straining masts to ease;
Swift on the deck the stud-sails all descend,
Which ready seamen from the yards unbend;
The boats then hoisted in are fix'd on board,
And on the deck with fast'ning gripes secur'd.
The watchful ruler of the helm, no more
With fix'd attention eyes th' adjacent shore,
But by the oracle of truth below,

The wondrous magnet, guides the wayward prow.
The pow'rful sails, with steady breezes swell'd,
Swift and more swift the yielding bark impell'd:
Across her stem the parting waters run,
As clouds, by tempests wafted, pass the Sun.
Impatient thus she darts along the shore,
Till Ida's mount, and Jove's, are seen no more;
And, while aloof from Retimo she steers,
Malacha's forelånd full in front appears.
Wide o'er yon isthmus stands the cypress grove
That once enclos'd the hallow'd fane of Jove;
Here too, memorial of his name! is found
A tomb, in marble ruins on the ground:
This gloomy tyrant, whose despotic sway
Compell'd the trembling nations to obey,
Through Greece for murder, rape, and incest known,
The Muses rais'd to high Olympus' throne;
For oft, alas! their venal strains adorn
The prince, whom blushing Virtue holds in scorn ;

Still Rome and Greece record his endless fame,
And hence yon mountain yet retains his name.

But see! in confluence borne before the blast,
Clouds roll'd on clouds the dusky noon o'ercast:
The black'ning ocean curls, the winds arise,
And the dark scud 2 in swift succession flies.
While the swoln canvass bends the masts on high,
Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie3
The master calls to give the ship relief,
The topsails lower, and form a single reef 4!
Each lofty yard with slacken'd cordage reels;
Rattle the creaking blocks and ringing wheels.
Down the tall masts the top-sails sink amain,
Are mann'd and reef'd, then hoisted up again.
More distant grew receding Candia's shore,
And southward of the west Cape Spado bore.

Four hours the Sun his high meridian throne Had left, and o'er Atlantic regions shone; Still blacker clouds, that all the skies invade, Draw o'er his sullied orb a dismal shade. A lowering squall obscures the southern sky, Before whose sweeping breath the waters fly; Its weight the top-sails can no more sustainReef top-sails, reef! the master calls again. The halyards and top-bow-lines scon are gone, To clue-lines and reef-tackles next they run: The shiv'ring sails descend; the yards are square; Then quick aloft the ready crew repair; The weather-earings, and the lee, they past, The reefs enroll'd, and ev'ry point made fast. Their task above thus finish'd, they descend, And vigilaut th' approaching squall attend: It comes resistless! and with foaming sweep Upturns the whitening surface of the deep: In such a tempest, borne to deeds of death, The wayward sisters scour the blasted heath.

* Scud is a name given by seamen to the lowest clouds, which are driven with great rapidity along the atmosphere, in squally or tempestuous weather. 3 When the wind crosses a ship's course, either directly or obliquely; that side of the ship upon which it acts, is called the weather-side; and the opposite one, which is then pressed downwards, is called the lee side. Hence all the rigging and furniture of the ship are, at this time, distinguished by the side on which they are situated; as the leecannon, the lee-braces, the weather-braces, &c.

4 The topsails are large square sails of the second degree in height and magnitude. Reefs are certain divisions or spaces by which the principal sails are reduced when the wind increases; and again enlarged proportionably when its force abates.

5 Halyards are those ropes by which sails are hoisted or lowered; bow-lines, are ropes fastened to the outer edge of square sails in three different places, that the windward edge of the sail may be bound tight forward on a side wind, in order to keep the sail from shivering. Clue-lines are fastened to the lower corners of the square sails, for the more easy furling of them. Reef-tackles, are ropes fastened to the edge of the sail, just beneath the lowest reef; and being brought down to the deck by means of two blocks, are used to facilitate the operation of reefing. Earings are small ropes employed to fasten the upper corners of the principal sails, and the extremities of the reefs, to the respective yard-arms, particularly when any sail is to be close furled.

The clouds, with ruin pregnant, now impend,
And storm, and cataracts, tumultuous blend.
Deep, on her side, the reeling vessel lies:
Brail up the mizen quick! the master cries,
Man the clue-garnets?! let the main-sheet fly!
It rends in thousand shivering shreds on high!
The main-sail, all in streaming ruins tore,
Loud fluttering, imitates the thunder's roar:
The ship still labours in th' oppressive strain,
Low bending, as if ne'er to rise again.
Bear up the helm a-weather! Rodmond cries,
Swift at the word the helm a-weather flies;
She feels its guiding power, and veers apace,
And now the fore-sail right athwart they brace:
With equal sheets restrain'd, the bellying sail
Spreads a broad concave to the sweeping gale.
While o'er the foam the ship impetuous flies,
The helm th' attentive timoneer 9 applies:
As in pursuit along th' aërial way
With ardent eye the falcon marks his prey,
Each motion watches of the doubtful chase,
Obliquely wheeling through the fluid space;
So, govern'd by the steersman's glowing hands,
The regent helm her motion still commands.

But now, the transient squall to leeward past,
Again she rallies to the sullen blast:
The helm to starboard moves; each shiv'ring sail
Is sharply trimm'd to clasp th' augmenting gale-
The mizen draws; she springs aloof once more
While the fore stay-sail 1o balances before.
The fore-sail brac'd obliquely to the wind,
They near the prow th' extended tack confin'd:
Then on the leeward sheet the seamen bend,
And haul the bow-line to the bowsprit-end.
To top-sails next they haste: the bunt-lines gone!
Through rattling blocks the clue-lines swiftly run;
Th' extending sheets on either side are mann'd,
Abroad they come! the flutt'ring sails expand;
The yards again ascend each comrade mast,
The leeches taught, the halyards are made fast,
The bow-lines haul'd, and yards to starboard
brac'd",

And straggling ropes in pendent order plac'd.

The mizen is a large sail of an oblong figure extended upon the mizen-mast.

7 Clue-garnets are employed for the same purposes on the main-sail and fore-sail as the clue-lines are upon all other square sails. See note 5, p. 596.

The main-sail, by the squall so lately rent, In streaming pendants flying, is unbent: With brails 12 refix'd, another soon prepar'd, Ascending, spreads along beneath the yard. To each yard-arm the head-rope 13 they extend, And soon their earings and their robans bend. That task perforin'd, they first the braces slack 14, Then to the chess-tree drag th' unwilling tack. And, while the lee clue-garnet's lower'd away, Taught aft the sheet they tally, and belay.

Now to the north, from Afric's burning shore, A troop of porpoises their course explore; In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide, Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide: Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain, That burn in sparkling trails along the mainThese fleetest coursers of the finny race, When threat'ning clouds th' ethereal vault deface, Their route to leeward still sagacious form, To shun the fury of th' approaching storm.

III. Fair Candia now no more, beneath her lee, · Protects the vessel from th' insulting sea; Round her broad arms, impatient of control, Rous'd from the secret deep, the billows roll: Sunk were the bulwarks of the friendly shore, And all the scene an hostile aspect wore. The flattering wind, that late with promis'd aid From Candia's bay th' unwilling ship betray'd, No longer fawns beneath the fair disguise, But like a ruffian on his quarry flies: Tost on the tide she feels the tempest blow, And dreads the vengeance of so fell a foeAs the proud horse, with costly trappings gay, Exulting, prances to the bloody fray; Spurning the ground, he glories in his might, But reels tumultuous in the shock of fight: E'en so, caparison'd in gaudy pride, The bounding vessel dances on the tide. [grew, Fierce and more fierce the gath'ring tempest South and by west, the threat'ning demon blew : Auster's resistless force all air invades, And ev'ry rolling wave more ample spreads.

12 The ropes used to truss up a sail to the yard or mast whereto it is attached, are, in a general sense, called brails.

9 The heimsman, from timonier. Fr. 10 This sail, which is with more propriety called the fore topmast-stay-sail, is a triangular sail that runs upon the fore topmast-stay, over the bowsprit. It is used to command the fore part of the ship, and counterbalance the sails extended towards the stern. See also the last note of this Canto.

small pieces of rope, of a sufficient length to pass two or three times about the yards, in order to fix to them the upper edges of the respective great sails: the robands for this purpose are passed through the eyelet holes under the head rope.

The ship no longer can her top-sails bear;
No hopes of milder weather now appear.
Bowlines and halyards are cast off again,
Clue-lines haul'd down, and sheets let fly amain:
Embrail'd each top-sail, and by braces squar'd,
The seamen climb aloft and man each yard;
They furl'd the sails, and pointed to the wind
The yards, by rolling tackles ' then confin'd,
While o'er the ship the gallant boatswain flies;
Like a hoarse mastiff through the storm he cries,
Prompt to direct th' unskilful still appears,
Th' expert he praises, and the timid cheers.
Now some, to strike top-gallant-yards 16 attend,
Some, trav'llers 17 up the weather-back-stays
send,

18

At each mast-head the top-ropes 19 others bend.
The parrels 20, lifts ", and clue-lines soon are gone,
Topp'd and unrigg'd, they down the back-stays run;
The yards secure along the booms 22 were laid,
And all the flying ropes aloft belay'd.
Their sails reduc'd and all the rigging clear,
Awhile the crew relax from toils severe;
Awhile their spirits with fatigue opprest,
In vain expect th' alternate hour of rest-
But with redoubling force the tempests blow,
And wat'ry hills in dread succession flow:
A dismal shade o'ercasts the frowning skies,
New troubles grow; fresh difficulties rise;
No season this from duty to descend,
All hands on deck must now the storm attend.
His race perform'd, the sacred lamp of day
Now dipt in western clouds his parting ray:
His languid fires, half lost in ambient haze,
Refract along the dusk a crimson blaze;
Till deep immerg'd the sick'ning orb descends,
And cheerless Night o'er Heav'n her reign extends.

15 The rolling tackle, is an assemblage of blocks or pullies, through which a rope is passed, until it becomes four-fold, in order to confine the yard close down to leeward when the sail is furled, that the yard may not gall the mast, from the rolling of the ship. Gaskets are platted ropes to wrap round the sails when furled.

16 It is usual to send down the top-gallant yards on the approach of a storm. They are the highest yards that are rigged in a ship.

17 Travellers are slender iron rings, encircling the back-stays, and used to facilitate the hoisting or lowering of the top-gallant yards, by confining them to the back-stays, in their ascent or descent, so as to prevent them from swinging about by the agitation of the vessel.

18 Back-stays are long ropes, extending from the right and left side of the ship to the topmast-heads, which they are intended to secure, by counteracting the effort of the wind upon the sails.

19 Top-ropes are the cords by which the top-gallant yards are hoisted up from the deck, or lowered again in stormy weather.

20 The parrel, which is usually a moveable band of rope, is employed to confine the yard to its respective mast.

21 Lifts are ropes extending from the head of any mast to the extremities of its particular yard, to support the weight of the latter; to retain it in balance; or to raise one yard-arm higher than the other, which is accordingly called topping.

22 Any masts or yards lying on the deck in reserve, to supply the place of others which may be carried away by distress of weather.

Sad evening's hour, how diff'rent from the past!-
No flaming pomp, no blushing glories cast,
No ray of friendly light is seen around;
The Moon and stars in hopeless shade are drown'd.
The ship no longer can whole courses 23 bear,
To reef them now becomes the master's care;
The sailors summon'd aft all ready stand,
And man th' enfolding brails at his command:
But here the doubtful officers dispute,
Till skill and judgment prejudice confute:
For Rodmond, to new methods still a foe,
Would first, at all events, the sheet let go;
To long-tried practice obstinately warm
He doubts conviction, and relies on form.
This Albert and Arion disapprove,
And first to brail the tack up firmly move:
"The watchful seaman, whose sagacious eye
On sure experience may with truth rely,
Who from the reigning cause foretels th' effect,
This barb'rous practice ever will reject;
For, flutt'ring loose in air, the rigid sail
Soon fits to ruins in the furious gale;
And he, who strives the tempest to disarm,
Will never first embrail the lee yard-arm."
So Albert spoke; to windward, at his call,
Some seamen the clue-garnet stand to haul-4
The tack's eas'd off; while the involving clue
Between the pendent blocks ascending flew;
The sheet and weather-brace they now stand by 25,
The lee clue-garnet, and the bunt-lines ply:
Then, all prepar'd, Let go the sheet! he cries-
Loud rattling, jarring, through the blocks it flies!
Shiv'ring at first, till by the blast impell'd
High o'er the lee yard-arm the canvass swell'd;
By spilling-lines 26 embrac'd, with brails confin'd,
It lies at length unshaken by the wind.
The fore-sail then secur'd with equal care,
Again to reef the main-sail they repair;
While some above the yard o'er-haul the tye,
Below, the down-haul tackle others ply 27,
Jears 28, lifts and brails, a seaman each attends,
And down the mast its mighty yard descends:

23 The courses are generally understood to be the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizen, which are the largest and lowest sails on their several masts: the term is however sometimes taken in a larger sense.

24 The tack is always fastened to windward: accordingly as soon as it is cast loose, and the cluegarnet hauled up, the weather-clue of the sail immediately mounts to the yard; and this operation must be carefully performed in a storm, to prevent the sail from splitting or being torn to pieces by shivering.

25 It is necessary to pull in the weather-brace whenever the sheet is cast off, to preserve the sail from shaking violently.

26 The spilling-lines, which are only used on particular occasions in tempestuous weather, are employed to draw together and confine the belly of the sail, when it is inflated by the wind over the yard.

27 The violence of the wind forces the yard so much outward from the mast on these occasions, that it cannot easily be lowered so as to reef the sail, without the application of a tackle to haul it down on the mast. This is afterwards converted into rolling-tackle. See note 's, above.

28 Jears are the same to the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizen, as the halyards (note 5, p. 396) are to all the inferior sails. The tye is the upper part of the jears.