Christmas At Sea by Robert Louis Stephenson

Christmas at Sea

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 - 1894

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;

The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand;

The wind was a nor''wester, blowing squally off the sea;

And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;

But ‘twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.

We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,

And we gave her the maintops''l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;

All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;

All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,

For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;

But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:

So''s we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,

And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

Read more at http://www.solarglide.com/blog-post.asp?bid=15

References

The poem is available in the public domain but can be purchased as part a book, Poetry Please by Roger McGough. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poetry-Please-Roger-McGough/dp/0571303285

Photo: Paul Kingston / NNP

Christmas At Sea: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/10530957/Christmas-at-Sea-a-poem.html

SeaBritain: http://www.rmg.co.uk/about/partnerships-and-initiatives/seabritain