A MONUMENTAL MEMORIAL OF MARINE MERCY BEING An Acknowledgment of an High Hand of Divine Deliverance on the Deep in the Time of distress, IN A Late Voyage from Boston in New-England To LONDON, Anno 1683.
In a Poem. By Richard Steere.
To which is added Another Occasioned by Several Remarkable Passages happening at the Birth of a Male Child on Board the same Ship in her Voyage Returning 1684.
By the same Author then a Passenger.
Printed at BOSTON in New-England by Richard Pierce for James Cowse Stationer Anno 1684.
To the Reader.
Reader
I Here present thee with an Impartial Narrative, Collected from a Diurnall, and other Credible Informations of some Persons who had a share in this so never to be forgotten a Deliverance, and at whose Importunity it was Reduced into this small Tract, and shrouded in the modern Attire of Measure and Cadency, whose even and easie Pace being more Alluring and Captivating (Especially with youth, or the Crittically Ingenious of this Age) than the Elaborate Volumns of Prose left to us by our Worthy Ancestors, may probably the sooner Decoy or Invite thy Perusal.
I could not Conveniently avoyd the use of some Sea phrases The Subject being a Sea Deliverable, tho they may seem improper and unintelligible to a Land Capacity. And if I have erred in missapplying [Page]those Termes of Art, I hope the Ingenious Mariner will attribute it to the want of Experience in the Tarpolin Tongue:
But to put a period to this Epistle,
Read and Admire the Mercy,—Tho' the Stile
May make thee think it hardly worth the while.
☿ [...] ♂
A MONƲMENTAL MEMORIAL OF MARINE MERCY &c.
SInce Every Quill is silent to Relate
What being known must needs be wonder'd at
I take the boldness to present your Eye
With Safty's Prospect in Extremity,
Which tho not Cloath'd with Academick Skill,
Or lofty Raptures of a Poet's Quill;
But wrapt in raggs, through which your eyes may see
The Naked Truth in plain simplicitee.
I without further prologue Lanch with Ink
With Captain Balston in th' Adventure Pinck;
Who in December on the fourteenth day,
His Anchors weigh'd in Massachusets BAY,
Soon lay'd the Land below the Horizon.
The Sea was kind, the Sky serene and clear,
All seem to smile, no threating Frowns appear;
Yet sometimes Clouds of Rain, of Hail, of Snow,
Sometimes the winds more lofty, sometimes low,
The Mariners and Passengers a'board,
Enjoying what the Vessel did afford
With Satisfaction, and in full Content:
This good beginning was Encouragement
Of good success, in hope and expectation
The Ship might prove an Ark of preservation;
Her swelling sayls gave her a nimble motion,
Making her Keel to plough the Yeilding Ocean,
Whose little Billows still her Bow out braves,
Glideing Tryumphant o're the Curled waves.
Thus for five weeks the gentler winds did play
Upon the Oceans Surface to convey
Our little Pinck, filling her plyant Sayles
With easie Breezes, sweet Topgallant Gailes:
And now the Mariners by Judgment found
We did approach nigh to Great Brittains ground
And therefore heav'd the Deep-sea lead to sound,
Which tho they Fathom'd not did Truth afford,
For the same night a Land bird came a'board,
And the next morning we beheld two more
Which made the Judgment good they gave before.
Had we continu'd thus upon the Deep
We had bin Charm'd into a drowsie sleep
Of calme Security, nor had we known
The Excellence of PRESERVATION;
[Page 3] We had been Dumb and silent to Express
Affectedly the Voy'ges good success.
But to awake and Rowse our sleepy minds,
The Po'wrs above let loose th' unruly winds,
Heav'ns milder Puffs with violence at last
Let fly more fierce, and blow a stronger Blast:
The dark'ned Sky with gloomy Clouds o're spread,
Whose moist'ned fleeces have Enveloped
Tempestous Flaws which Issue more and more
In Thunder's Language, or as Cannons roar:
The weighty Seas Roul from the Deeps beneath:
Hill stands on hill by force of Heav'n blown breath,
And from the rocks foundations do arise
As tho resolv'd to storm th' Impending Skyes;
Flaws from those lofty Battlements are hurld,
As to a Chaos they would shake the world:
Thus as between a warr of Sea and Heaven,
From place to place our little Ship is driven;
And by the Seas tost like a ball in sport,
From wave to wave in Neptunes Tennis Court.
While thus the winds & seas their pow'rs dispute
A neighb'ring object did our Eyes salute,
A Sayle to windward; (in Distress no doubt)
Who Fir'd a Gun and heav'd their Colours out;
We made her English, but no help could give,
The Lofty Seas found each enough to live
But in the morning we to windward were
And Bearing down resolv'd to speak with her,
And understood she from East India came,
Under Command of Captain Hide by Name
Having about ten months from India been,
And had bin Beating six weeks on the Coast
Wanting Provis'on, almost spent and Lost:
An Interval of storms became their freind,
And gave us leave some little help to lend:
The storm renewing its Impetuous Force
Did Each from Other further off Divorce,
Yet we might see them two or three dayes more,
But since have heard that they were drave a'shore
Somewhere in Cornwall, on the Western Coast,
And ev'ry Soul except two Boyes were lost.
Still the resistless winds rebellious grow,
As they the Ʋniverse would Overthrow,
The pondrous seas like Rowling Mountains still,
Each Billow seeming an Alpean hill
By its prodigious Altitude: Despair
And fear of Danger, moves all lips to pray'r
Mixt with Industry, but Industry failes,
The Pumps are now in use but not the Sayles,
The Artist's Quadrants now are useless grown,
For Darkness dwells upon our Horizon;
Thus we for sev'ral days upon the Ocean
Did Ly a Hull, keeping our Pumps in motion;
Till January twenty sixth at night,
A mighty Sea did Overwhelm us quite,
Which falling down with a resistless stroke
Both our Ships Waste (or well built Gunwalls) broke
And carr'd away: now seeming like a Wreck
From the Fore-castle to the Quarter Deck,
[Page 5] The Long boat, Windless, Captstern, with the blow
Besides two weighty Anchors from the Bow,
With Ropes, & Ring-bolts (where ye Boat was fast,
And we constrain'd to cut our Mizen mast,)
All lost at once: Afflictions now prevail,
And each mans heart and strength begins to fail;
Sometimes we seem to sink sometimes to float,
The Masters mate tear's from his back his Coat
And stuffs between the Timbers; then they cry
For Bedding, Ruggs, and Blankets eagerly,
Which when obtain'd they Crowd into each place
Where streames of water Issu'd in apace:
But all Industry seems without success,
The Rageing storm grows rather more than Less;
Over those Ruggs they added skins of Bears,
And two new Clothes which our new main sail spares;
Here may the hand of providence be Ey'd,
The sayl was made by those two clothes too wide,
Which by so much, we had made so much less
But a few dayes before our great Distress;
Ropes Fore and Aft were streched to secure
The Mariners, who scarcely could endure
Those Big-swel'd Billows, (what are feeble men?)
So oft wash'd in, and out and in agen,
Sometimes upon, sometimes within the Ocean;
The Pumps nev'r sucking tho in Constant motion;
Whilst all the men and women then onboard
With earnest Cryes did call upon the LORD.
The Seas did frequently o'erflow the ship,
And we were often buri'd in the Deep:
Where men up to their knees in water stood,
Expelling ev'ry Moment grim look'd Death
With that cold Element would stop their breath.
When suddenly a voice salutes our ears,
With Joy unspeakable amidst our Fears,
One of the PUMPS does SUCK! who can believe
What unexpected Comfort a Repreive
Brings a Condemned Convict: So that Voice
Caused each Cast down spirit to Rejoyce.
But on the Fifth of February we
Ship'd a prodigious Mountain of a sea,
Which with a pondrous and resistless Stroke
The Fixed Table and the Benches broke,
And with its Force Op'ned the Cabbin Door.
A weighty Chest of Tooles away it bore,
Then with loud Ecchos ev'ry Tongue declares
Our Period come, our Elopes were now Despaires,
For we lay buri'd in the Oceans Womb,
And might conclude it was our wat'ry Tomb;
But an Almighty power became our Freind,
Causing our buri'd Vessel to Ascend,
And by degrees climb up the Mountain waves,
From whence our eyes might view our fluid Graves;
Thus the Great God did Snatch us from below,
Unto whose pow'r we all our safeties owe.
Some few dayes after we a Ship might see,
Which Coming up with understood to be
For England bound, and from Virginia came,
Gregory Sugar was her Captains Name;
[Page 7] So Leaky (that tho they did what they could)
Sh' had six or sev'n foot water in the Hould,
The Safety of their Lives they only sought,
For to preserve their Vessel they could not,
And Hoysting out their Boat to come a'board
Which could not Safety to them all afford,
Yet Thirteen of them soon into it prest:
And putting off, promis'd to fetch the Rest:
When they came nigh our Side such fear was shown,
None sought the good of others but his own,
Each striving to preserve himself with hast,
without regard to make the Painter fast;
(Had they Endeavour'd? it had bin in vain)
The Boat such wrong and dammage did sustain;
In Laying us aboard her Bows were Stav'd,
That t'was meer Mercy any man was sav'd:
Soon the Disabled Boat was gon a drift,
And now no hope of preservat'on left
For those behind, who were in number five,
For 'twas not possible the Ship should Live,
Nor with our Vessel did we dare come nigh,
For still the troubled Sea ran mountains high,
Tho their Intreaties, Peircing Cries and Grones,
Might even draw Remorsness out of Stones;
And now because of the approaching night,
We did advise them to hang out a Light,
Which but till eight a Clock appear'd in Sight;
After which time it did no more appear,
And we concluded (as we well might fear)
They then went down: Tho we could not relieve
Their wants, their loss we could not choose but grieve.
And now some Comfort we begin to find,
The winds are Calmer and the Seas more kind,
Now Heav'ns alscourging hand its strokes withdrew
And former Consolations did Renew,
By giving us at length the Sight of Land,
By an Or'e ruling providential hand:
Our Cloudy cares appear to fly apace,
And Comforts seemingly supply their place;
The fourteenth day at Plymouth we Arrive,
With those thirteen we had preserv'd alive:
The nineteenth day for London we set sayle,
With not too much wind, but a mod'rate Gale:
But as if Heav'n with anger should reprove,
That we those mercies did not well Improve;
Its Breath comes forth with Fury as before,
And we tho in the Downes and nigh the Shore,
Must feel more strokes of the chastising Rod
Of our offended of our angry GOD.
The Two and twentieth day much wind did blow,
When in the Downs we let our Anchor goe,
But it came home: we our Shift Anchor Cast,
Which (insignificant) came home as fast,
And we were driven up alongst the Side
Of a Ship there, which did at Anchor ride,
Our Anchor took her Cable, and did pass
Up with a speedy motion to her Hass,
Which at their Bows they Cutting from the Cable,
And t'other Anchor being too unable
To bring us up, broke in the shank. and we
Again (by Violence) Drove out to Sea;
And let our small Bower go without delay,
Which like a rotten stick was quickly broke
(When once it came to strain) both flewks & stock,
Neither Shift-Anchor, Best nor yet Small Bower
To Bring us up had strength enough or power;
And in the Afternoon the winds Restrain
Their furious Blasts, now only did remain
Our small Cedge Anchor, (unto which we must
Our Lives, our Ship, and all her Cargo trust,)
Which Letting go, Heav'ns care did so provide,
That we that Ebb secure in safety Ride;
From which our apprehensions may Inspect,
How the Great God by Small meanes doth protect,
Whose strength can make our strongest cables weak,
Our Cobwebs strong, no earthly strein can break,
That we might put no Trust in Earthen Powers:
For weak is all the Fortitude of Our's.
An Anchor we that night from Shore obtain.
And so Return into the Downs again,
And weighing thence, favour'd with winds & floods,
Our selves in Safety with our ship and goods,
The Twenty fifth (assisted by the Lord)
Arriv'd at London and at Ratcliff Moor'd.
Thou God of this great Vast, that dost Command
With thy Almighty Hand,
Water, Earth, Air, and Fire
(The Elements:) the Sun, the Moon, and Stars
Act not their own affaires,
But what thou dost require:
O who can view thy pow'r, & not thy pow'r admire.
[Page 10] Tis thou Alone art our alone support,
Thy Mercy's our strong fort,
Thou giv'st us length of dayes,
To thee th' Almighty and Tri-une JEHOVE,
Dwelling in Heav'en above;
Be Everlasting Praise;
O who can tast thy Good, & not Thanksgiving Raise.
A POEM OCCASIONALLY WRITTEN ON Some Remarkables hap'ning at the Birth of the Son of Thomas and Sarah Wallis upon the Atlantick or Western Ocean, July the 26 1684.
VVAllis, (for yet thou hast no other Name)
This Poem, if thou live to read the same
In thy maturer years, thou mayst from thence
Ground Contemplations on God's Providence.
At thy Nativity the Southern Gales
With Gentler Breezes faintly fill'd our Sailed,
The Curled Ocean's wrinkled Brows were down,
Whose Surface Smil'd that seem'd before to frown,
Neptunes Attendants from the Deeps resort,
And dance Levalto [...]s in his wat'ry Court;
When thou wert Born, July the Twenty sixt,
Grampas and Sholes of Porpoise (Intermixt)
Attend the Ship, and Pitterels take Wing,
Both Fish and Fowl Advene the Gossipping:
And when the Evening of the day drew nigh,
The big swell'd Clouds darkned the Azure Sky
Shaking their dropping Fleeces on the Maine,
And to their Element return again;
Lightnings bright Flashes issu'd from the Skye,
And Peals of Thunder Eccho'd from on high:
These things attended thy Nativity.
Was between Europe and America:
About the Latitude of Forty four,
And New-found-Land was judg'd the nighest shore:
The Pinck Adventure serv'd at once instead
Of thy Birth-chamber, Cradle, and thy Bed;
Hold not the meaness of the place in Scorn,
For Christ himself was in a Stable born:
When thy reflecting thoughts shall call to mind,
The Hardships incident to Humane kind,
Then let the Eye of Faith thy mind Convey
To view the Manger where thy Saviour lay.
Whom God hath sent to bear thy sinfull load;
Thou hast no more to doe but serve thy GOD.
Now may the Parents of the Child enjoy,
Succeeding Comforts in their Sea-born Boy,
May his maturer years cause Joy and mirth,
Sweetning the Troubles that attend his Birth.
May they those Consolating Mercies prize,
As from the God of Mercies they Arise,
And from his never-failing Fountains flow,
To make their minds up to Thanksgiving grow,
If the Boy lives and Capable to Read,
Tho the mean Author of these Lines be Dead,
Yet 'tis his will the Youth should have the same,
And therefore, thereunto Subscribes his name.
RICHARD STEERE.
FINIS.