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42 Music of the Waters. |
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And amid a thundering shower of shot,
With stern-sails hoisted away, Down the North Channel Paul Jones did steal
Just at the break of day."
In 1813 there was a popular song sung to the tune of " Ye Mariners of England," and called " The Freedom of the Seas." The chorus is :—
" Though tyrants frown and cannon roar, and angry tempests blow, We'll be free on the sea in despite of every foe."
Another song of Paul Jones' victories was sung in 1813, descriptive of the Bonhomme Richard overcoming the English men-of-war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough in 1779. About the same time appeared the glorious old ballad of " The Constitution and Guerriere," to which the decks of American men-of-war still continue to echo ; " The Siege of Tripoli;" and "Yankee Tars." A song of this period is called "The Yankee Thunders;" it is largely taken up with praises of the bravery of English sailors, and intimates that only the Yankees are a match for them. The last verse runs—
" Hence be our floating bulwarks
Those oaks our mountains yield ; 'Tis mighty Heaven's plain decree,
Then take the watery field. To ocean's furthest barriers, their
Fair whitening sails shall pour ; Safe they'll ride o'er the tide,
While Columbia's thunders roar, While her cannon's fire is flashing past,
And her Yankee thunders roar."
In one of Mr. Ballantyne's books," The Red Eric, or the Whaler's Last Cruise," there is a song sung by one Gurney, when the men on board of this same whaler were grouped around the .windlass. On receiving Gurney's promise to |
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