Section 35
Our frigate takes fire,
Toward twelve there in the beams of the moon they surrender to us.
They hold out bravely during the whole of the action.
Would you hear of an old-time sea-fight?
We close with him, the yards entangled, the cannon touch'd,
Fighting at sun-down , fighting at dark,
Only three guns are in use,
Serene stands the little captain,
List to the yarn, as my grandmother's father the sailor told it to me.
The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in the after-hold to give them a chance for themselves.
If our colors are struck and the fighting done?
We had receiv'd some eighteen pound shots under the water,
Two well serv'd with grape canister silence his musketry and clear his decks.
The leaks gain fast on the pumps, the fire eats toward the powder-magazine.
Along the lover's eve he came horribly ranking us.
Would you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?
His eyes give more light to us than our battle-lanterns.
The other asks if we demand quarter?
They see so many strange faces they do not know whom to trust.
Ten o'clock at night, the full moon well up, our leaks on the gain, and five feet of water reported,
Now I laugh content, for I hear the voice of my little captain, we have just begun our part of the fighting.
On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at the first fire, killing all around and blowing up overhead
One is directed by the captain himself against the enemy's mainmast,
The tops alone second the fire of the little battery, especially the main-top,
My captain lash'd fast with his own hands.
Not a moment's cease,
His was the surly English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer, and never was, and never will be;
One of the pumps has been shot away, it is generally thought we are sinking.
Our foe was no skulk in his ship I tell you, (said he,)
He is not hurried, his voice is neither high nor low,
Music
Literature
Influence
Literature: Criticism
Literature
Education
Literature
Literature
Politics
Literature: Poetry
Literature: Criticism
Literature: Magazine
Literature: Journal
Literature
Literature: Poetry
Literature
Religion