Ballads of Brave Deeds By H. D. Rawnsley. With a Frontispiece and Preface by G. F. Watts |
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M`Dermott's Deed |
 | Ballads of Brave Deeds |  |
M`Dermott's Deed
On the evening of September 9th, 1892, the sailing cutter of H.M. “Swallow,” while cruising off the south end of the Zanzibar Islands, anchored off Uzi Island, when half the men landed, leaving the chief boatswain M`Dermott, John Sadler, H. Payne, Charles Lawford, and W. Rundle, A.B. seamen, in the boat. Lawford and Payne jumped overboard and were bathing, when a large shark was seen making towards Lawford. The shark was only four or five feet off when, without any hesitation, and without waiting to divest himself of any of his clothes, M`Dermott plunged into the sea “right on top of the shark,” and with the splash he made frightened it away for a short time, while the men were quickly drawn into the boat. This extraordinary act of heroism, the particulars of which have just been forwarded to the Royal Humane Society by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, has been investigated by the committee of the former body, which has unanimously conferred its silver medal upon Thomas M`Dermott.
The white shark hunts the deep;
Far off his quarry doth espy
And never sinks to sleep.
His throat as hell is wide,
Yea, cavernous as Death his maw,
As Death, unsatisfied.
Shall hap to sailor-men,
What ship shall strike, what life be slain
Are clear unto his ken;
Moves after thro' the sea,
Wherever Doom the day shall win,
Or sick men dying be.
The ocean mile on mile
Lay trembling sapphire in the heat
Round Uzi's coral isle.
She rested in the sun;
Our Bo'sun piped all hands ashore
For frolic and for fun.
A rough and ready tar;
No better Bo'sun ever sailed
From port for Zanzibar.
We came to his command;
We lost the Master in the Mate;
We found a comrade's hand.
Be red o'er yonder bay;
While some may race, and some may swim,
Beside the boat I stay.”
The sailors dashed to land;
They sought the palms for shade and cool,
They vanished from the strand.
The Bo'sun left behind,
Would make the world's heart faster beat
For honour of his kind.
His guardian watches good;
While overboard his comrades leapt
For revel in the flood.
Like ivory thro' the blue,
White English hands to silver plashed
The water's sapphire hue.
The terror of the bay;
Or knowing death, they heeded not
The death so far away.
With eyes that never sleep,
And swift and silent lo! a shark
Came upward thro' the deep.
Sped straight toward the shore,
A fin was seen above the flood,
Where was no fin before!
And e'er M'Dermott cried,
The murderous shadow turned to white,
The shark was on its side.
Who scarce had time for dread;
The Bo'sun sprang from out the boat
Full at the monster's head.
To meet the treacherous foe;
From forth the jaws of death to save,
To death he dared to go.
He met the mouth of greed;
That so his men their boat might win,
M'Dermott did this deed.
Of day, still lives the man,
Who leaped unarmed to face and fight
The fierce leviathan.
And bring him home to land!
Our voices would the hero hail,
Our hands would hold his hand.
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