Ballads of Brave Deeds :: :: University of Virginia Library

What Fate, foreknowing thine,
Great daughter of the Tyne,
Made stars of evil shine,
When they laid the keelson down?
What Fury, working shame,
Bade mortals change the name
Of the hull that seaward came,
“Victoria” not “Renown”?

That scarce escaped away
From Dragomesti Bay
Unharmed, for future fray
And the fortune of the wave,
With a harbour on the lee,
When the Syrian sun shone free,

Thou hast sunk down thro' the sea
To an eighty-fathom grave.

Right clear the signals flew;
Not a man among the crew,
But had earned the honour due
To the sure and ready hand;
Not a heart or eye that feared,
When the docile monsters neared
To their cables' length, and veered
As the helmsman heard command.

Oh, the glow and power and pride
Of the vessels side by side!
How the cheery boatswains cried!
How the sailors swore and laughed!
Oh, the humming and the stir,
And the engines pant and whirr!
“Port and starboard, steady, sir!”
How the words went fore and aft!

With their fourteen hundred horses,
Chained to speed the huge keel-courses,
Can we marvel if the forces
Of dark Fate were laughed to scorn?

That it seemed beyond all wonder
How the iron walls built under
Those citadels of thunder,
Could by any chance be torn?

Blue sea beneath was glancing
To the glory of their prancing,
As the huge hulls in their dancing,
Moved and shifted side to side.
Blue sky above was burning,
All the foam-bells of their churning
Into wreaths of blossom turning,
That floated far and wide.

When flew the fatal sign,
“Inward curve upon your line
Sixteen points and follow mine,
Keep six cable lengths away.”
God! what captain in the fleet
Would have ventured such a feat?
Error there! for all to see it
Orders there! let all obey.

And thus in open sight,
As if sudden jealous spite,

Or some Fury mad for fight
In the Camperdown awoke,
Tho' a thousand seamen cried,
Tho' the steam-horns all were plied,
She fell upon our side
With her fiercest battle-stroke.

With a crackle; with a roar,
On thro' bulk-head, water-door,
Its way the prow-axe tore
Just beneath our belt of mail,
Came amidships with a dash,
The thunder of its crash
Crumpling plates of steel to ash,
While the splinters flew like hail.

Then out cried our gallant Tryon—
“We have stouter walls than iron,
We have true hearts to rely on;
To your quarters, men, like men.
It's clear broadside breach! no chink!
If we swim or if we sink,
Let the land we love so! think
Of us proudly now and then.

“Loose the prisoners! bring the sick
From below on deck, and quick!
At my post I mean to stick,
While the ship can float a man.
And if shore we may not reach,
For the water thro' the breach,
There's at least another beach
Where we end what we began.”

And the sailors went below
For a tussle with the foe,
But their fate they well might know,
For the wound was deep and great;
All the water-doors shut tight
Stood to order, silent quite,
As men sailing into fight,
Who the last dread summons wait.

And the holds were full of steam,
And we heard the stokers scream,
For we felt her pitch a-beam
Pause, heel over on the tide;
Then the great ship gave a groan,
And, with whirlpool hiss and moan,

The Victoria sank like stone,
Nigh three hundred men inside.

Too much air with them to drown—
Eighty fathoms they went down—
Thinking each one of his own,
And the happy days gone past.
Standing calm and face to face
With their God a moment's space,
Asking mercy, praying grace
For safe harbour at the last.

Like the death-plunge of a whale,
Our Leviathan of mail
With its whirring iron flail
Thrashed the waters into blood;
And we heard the peals of thunder,
As the boilers burst asunder,
And the sea-spouts sent from under
Human jetsam of the flood.

Where they foundered let them sleep
In the sapphire Syrian deep,
Never wind nor tide can sweep
To the breaking of their rest.

There they lie till day of doom,
Hid within the darkened womb
Of their iron-girdled tomb—
They, our bravest and our best!

But when Lebanon is kissed
By the sun to amethyst,
Or the long sands shine like mist
Silver-white beneath the moon;
On the shore I see One stand—
He who gave His strong right hand
When our men sailed safe for land,
On the decks of silent Swoon.

And I hear a clear voice say
“They who hearken and obey—
Tho' the flesh forbid the way,
And their doom before them lies—
Find His Spirit fear controls,
As the death-wave o'er them rolls,
With the Captain of their souls
Steer right on to Paradise.”