THE BAY OF BISCAY O!
Loud roar’d the dreadful thunder!
The rain a deluge showers!
The clouds were rent asunder
By lightning’s vivid powers!
The night both drear and dark
Our poor devoted bark,
Till next day,
There she lay,
In the Bay of Biscay O!
Now dash’d upon the billow,
Our opening timbers creak;
Each fears a watery pillow,
None stops the dreadful leak!
To cling to slippery shrouds,
Each breathless seaman crowds,
At the lay,
Till the day,
In the bay of Biscay, O!
At length the wish’d for morrow
Broke through the hazy sky;
Absorb’d in silent sorrow,
Each heav’d a bitter sigh;
The dismal wreck to view
Struck horror to the crew,
At the lay,
On that day,
In the bay of Biscay, O!
Her yielding timbers sever,
Her pitchy seams are rent,
When Heaven, all bounteous ever,
Its boundless mercy sent:
A sail in sight appears,
We hail her with three cheers!
Now we sail,
With the gale,
From the Bay of Biscay, O!