Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead,
While his dismal tale is told.
"I by twenty sail attended,
Did this Spanish town affright;
Nothing then its wealth defended
But my orders not to fight.
Oh! that in this rolling ocean
I had cast them with disdain,
And obey'd my heart's warm motion To have quell'd the pride of Spain !
"For resistance I could fear none,
But with twenty ships had done
What thou, brave and happy Vernon,
Hast achieved with six alone.
Then the Bastimentos never
Had our foul dishonour seen;
Nor the sea, the sad receiver
Of this gallant train had been.
"Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying,
And her galleons leading home,
Though, condemned for disobeying,
I had met a traitor's doom,
To have fallen, my country crying
He has played an English part,
Had been better far than dying
Of a grieved and broken heart.
"Unrepining at thy glory,
Thy successful arms we hail;
But remember our sad story,
And let Hosier's wrongs prevail.
Sent in this foul clime to languish,
Think what thousands fell in vain,
Wasted with disease and anguish,
Not in glorious battle slain.
"Hence with all my train attending
From their oczy tombs below,
Through the hoary foam ascending,
Here I feed my constant woe:
Here the Bastimentos viewing,
We recall our shameful doom,
And our plaintive cries renewing,
Wander through the midnight gloom.
"O'er these waves for ever mourning
Shall we roam deprived of rest,
If to Britain's shores returning
You neglect my just request;
After this proud foe subduing,
When your patriot friends you see,
Think on vengeance for my ruin,
And for England shamed in me."
THE DEATH OF ADMIRAL BENBOW.
O we sailed to old Virginia and thence to Fayal,
Where we water'd our shipping, and so then weigh'd all;
Full in view on the seas, boys, seven sails we did espy!
O we mann'd our capstern and weigh'd speedily.
The first we came up with, was a brig and a sloop,
We ask'd if the other five were as big as they look'd;
But turning to windward, as near's we could lie,
Found they were French men of war cruising hard by.
O we drew up our squadron in a very nice line,
And fought them courageous for four hours time;
But the day being spent, boys, and night coming on,
We let them alone till the very next morn.
The very next morning, the engagement prov'd hot,
And brave Admiral Benbow received a chain-shot:
O when he was wounded, to his merry men he did say,
"Take me up in your arms, boys, and carry me away."
O the guns they did rattle, and bullets did fly,
While brave Admiral Benbow for help loud did cry;
Carry me down to the cockpit, there is ease for my smarts;
If my merry men should see me, 'twill sure break all their hearts."
The very next morning, at break of the day,
We hoisted our topsails, and so bore away;
We bore down to Port Royal, where the people flock'd much,
To see brave Admiral Benbow carried to Kingston town Church.
Come all ye brave fellows, wheresoever you have been, Let us drink a good health to our king and our queen, And another health, boys, to the girls that we know, And a third in remembrance of brave Admiral Benbow. ANON.
CAPTAIN DEATH.*
Written by one of the Surviving Crew, 1757.
THE muse and the hero together are fired,
The same noble views have their bosoms inspir'd;
As freedom they love, and for glory contend,
The muse o'er the hero still mourns as a friend:
And here let the muse her poor tribute bequeath
To one British hero,-'tis brave Captain Death!
* This poem was written to commemorate a fierce engagement which took place between an English Privateer named the "Terrible," commanded by Captain Death, and two large French Privateers, one of which was a recaptured prize of the “Terrible.” Notwithstanding the amazing disparity in the force of the rival vessels, Capt. Death maintained a fierce and obstinate engagement, until himself, with the greater part of his officers, and almost all his crew were killed. When his ship was boarded by the enemy only twentysix persons were found alive, sixteen of whom were mutilated by the loss of a leg or an arm, and the other ten grievously wounded.
His ship was the Terrible,-dreadful to see!
His crew were as brave, and as gallant as he;
Two hundred or more was their good complement,
And sure brayer fellows to sea never went :
Each man was determin'd to spend his last breath
In fighting for Britain and brave Captain Death!
A prize they had taken diminish'd their force,
And soon the good prize-ship was lost in her course;
The French Privateer and the Terrible met ;-
The battle begun,—all with horror beset :
No heart was dismay'd,—each as bold as Macbeth :-
They fought for old England and brave Captain Death.
Fire, thunder, balls, bullets, were seen, heard and felt;
A sight that the heart of Bellona would melt;
The shrouds were all torn, and the decks fill'd with blood,
And scores of dead bodies were thrown in the flood;-
The flood from the days of old Noah and Seth,
Ne'er saw such a man as our brave Captain Death.
At last the dread bullet came wing'd with his fate,
Our brave captain dropp'd—and soon after his mate ;—
Each officer fell, and a carnage was seen,
That soon died the waves to a crimson from green :
And Neptune rose up, and took off his wreath,
And gave it a Triton to crown Captain Death.
Thus fell the strong Terrible, bravely and bold;
But sixteen survivors the tale can unfold:
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