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O pilot! 'tis a fearful night,
There's danger on the deep.
Author: Thomas Haynes Bayly
Source: The Pilot
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How Bishop Aiden foretold to certain seamen a storm that would
happen, and gave them some holy oil to lay it.
Author: Bede "The Venerable"
Source: Ecclesiastical History (III, 15), heading of chapter
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O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,
Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home!
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: The Corsair (canto I, st. 1)
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Here's to the pilot that weathered the storm.
Author: George Canning
Source: The Pilot that Weathered the Storm
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And as great seamen, using all their wealth
And skills in Neptune's deep invisible paths,
In tall ships richly built and ribbed with brass,
To put a girdle round about the world.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Bussy d'Ambois (act I, sc. I, l. 20)
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A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sails,
And bends the gallant mast!
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
While, like the eagle free,
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
Old England in the lee.
Author: Allan Cunningham
Source: Songs of Scotland--A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea
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Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air.
Author: Erasmus Darwin
Source: The Botanic Garden (pt. I, 1, 289)
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For they say there's a Providence sits up aloft
To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
Author: Charles Dibdin
Source: Poor Jack
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There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft,
To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
Author: Charles Dibdin
Source: Poor Jack
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Skill'd in the globe and sphere, he gravely stands,
And, with his compass, measures seas and lands.
Author: John Dryden
Source: Sixth Satire of Juvenal (l. 760)
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The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest
navigators.
Author: Edward Gibbon
Source: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (ch. LXVIII)
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Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight and a midshipmite
And the crew of the captain's gig.
Author: William S. Gilbert
Source: Yarn of the "Nancy Bell"
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Thus, I steer my bark, and sail
On even keel, with gentle gale.
Author: Matthew Green
Source: Spleen (l. 814)
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Though pleas'd to see the dolphins play,
I mind my compass and my way.
Author: Matthew Green
Source: Spleen (l. 826)
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What though the sea be calm? trust to the shore,
Ships have been drown'd, where late they danc'd before.
Author: Robert Herrick
Source: Safety on the Shore
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Yet the best pilots have need of mariners, besides sails, anchor
and other tackle.
Author: Ben Jonson
Source: Discoveries--Illiteratus Princeps
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--They write here one Cornelius--Son
Hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel
To swim the haven at Dunkirk, and sink all
The shipping there.
--But how is't done?
--I'll show you, sir.
It is automa, runs under water
With a snug nose, and has a nimble tail
Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles
Betwixt the costs of a ship and sinks it straight.
Author: Ben Jonson
Source: Staple of News (act III, sc. 1)
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Some love to roam o'er the dark sea's foam,
Where the shrill winds whistle free.
Author: Charles Mackay
Source: Some Love to Roam
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Thus far we run before the wind.
Author: Arthur Murphy
Source: The Apprentice (act I, sc. 1, l. 344)
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We have ploughed the vast ocean in a fragile bark.
[Lat., Nos fragili vastum ligno sulcavimus aequor.]
Author: Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Source: Epistoloe Ex Ponto (I, 14, 35)
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Ye gentlemen of England
That live at home at ease,
Ah! little do you think upon
The dangers of the seas.
Author: Martyn Parker
Source: Ye Gentlemen of England
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A strong nor'wester's blowing, Bill!
Hark! don't ye hear it roar now?
Lord help 'em, how I pities them
Unhappy folks on shore now!
Author: Martyn Parker
Source: Ye Gentlemen of England
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And that all seas are made calme and still with oile; and
therefore the Divers under the water doe spirt and sprinkle it
abroad with their mouthes because it dulceth and allaieth the
unpleasant nature thereof, and carrieth a light with it.
Author: Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus)
Source: Natural History (bk. II, ch. CIII), (Holland's translation)
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Why does pouring Oil on the Sea make it Clear and Calm? Is it
that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause
any waves?
Author: Plutarch
Source: Morals--Natural Questions (XII)
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Well, then--our course is chosen--spread the sail--
Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings well--
Look to the helm, good master--many a shoal
Marks this stern coast, and rocks, where sits the Siren
Who, like ambition, lures men to their ruin.
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Source: Kenilworth (ch. XVII, verses at head of chapter)
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