THE PILOT THAT WEATHERED THE FIRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2631, 17 September 1902, Page 66

THE PILOT THAT WEATHERED

THE FIRE.

In Martinique Harbour, The vessels were doomed, "When Pole his volcanic Artillery boomed ; When fiery fumes whelmed Through sea and air, And panic reigned Fatal in St. Pierre. 'Mong seamen and landsmen, In disaster so fell, Will no one be left The tidings to tell 9 Yea, a black man, a white man, The death-shower will fight, The bondman in dungeon, The freeman in light. The E-oddam, with Freeman, On the prefatal night, Came seeking lor harbour, But ready for flight. When all shipping in harbota Is sunk or in flame, One is out steaming, With her bows to the main. Through that fiery mist And that boiling sea, Will a Freeman stoer clear, His Rcddam make nee? With a paralysed crew, By hot fumes struck dead, ■ She pitched and plunged, But steamed ahead. With her master a hero, His hand on the helm, And hissing waters Strong to o'erwhelm. Yet to freedom from flame The Eoddam was manned, Though her helm was held With a burning hand. The hero was scarred, But alive unto fame, For he rescued his ship From the sea and the flame. Nor sought he a covert From wave or for wound, Till in Castr^s St. "Lucia An asylum he -found. Like another Bi'tish hero, Of Calliope renown, When Samoan hurricane Threatened to drown, And sinking fleets Were signals to warn — He steamed out of bay In the teeth of the storm. When historians record The brave deeds that were done, This one will stand forth, By a true British son ; And their pnges^ to future Generations will tell How a Freeman in periL Played his part very well. Gleiikenich, September 6, 1902.

—A. Ecssell.