Christmas at Sea
Words: R.L. Stevenson. Music: Tom Lewis
(Recorded by Tom Lewis on 360° All Points of the Compass)
The sheets were frozen hard and they cut
the naked hand,
The decks were like a slide where a seaman 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 'fore the breaking of the day,
But t'was only with the peep of light we saw how ill she lay,
We tumbled every hand on deck, instanter, with a shout,
We gave her the main topsail 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 with 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.
The frost was on the village roofs, as white as ocean foam,
The good, red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore
home,
The windows sparkled clear and the chimneys volleyed out,
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.
The bells upon the church were rung with mighty jovial cheer,
For it's just that I should tell you how, of all days of the
year,
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn',
And the house above the Coastguard's was the house where I was
born.
'Tis well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My Mother's silver spectacles, my Father's silver hair,
And well I saw the fire-light, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing 'round the china plates that stand upon the
shelves.
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea,
And, oh, the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.
They lit the high-sea light, the dark began to fall,
"All hands to loose t'gallant sails!"; I heard the Captain
call,
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it!"; our First Mate,
Jackson, cried,
"It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson."; he replied.
She staggered to her bearings but the sails were new and
good,
And the ship smelt up to windward, just as though she
understood,
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland and passed below the light.
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board - but
me,
As they saw her nose again, pointed handsome out to sea,
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home - and my folks were growing
old.
