the tempest
the tempest tossed on the tide, she feels the tempest blow and dread the vengeance of so fell a foe.
 as the proud horse, with costly trappings gay, exulting, prances to the fray, spurning the ground, he glories in his might, but reels tumultuous in the shock of fight;
 even so, caparisoned in gaudy pride, the bounding vessel dances on the tide.
fierce, and more fierce, the southern demon blew, and more incensed the roaring waters grew;
 the ship no longer can her topsails spread, and every hope of fairer skies is fled.
 bowliones and halyards are relaxed again, clewlines let down, and sheets let fly amain;
 clewed up each topsail,
and by braces squared, the seamen climb aloft on either yard.
they furled the sails, and pointed to the wind the yard by rolling tackles then confined.
 while o' er the ship the gallant boatswain flies, like a hoarse mastiff through the storm he cries: prompt to direct the unskillfull still appears;
 the expert he praises, and the fearful cheers, now some to strike topgallant yards attend: some travellers up the weather-backstays send.
at each masthead, the topropes others bend, the youngest sailors from the yards above;
 their parrels, lifts, and bracessoon remove;
 then topped a-end and to the travellers tied, charged with their sails, they down the backstays slide.
 their sails reduced, and all the rigging clear their sails reduced, and all the rigging clear, awhile the crew relax from their toils severe.
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this song I got from frank o' keefe of talbingo, nsw, from from the papers of his ex-wife's ancestor lt.
 jackson, r.
n.
, who arrived in australia in 1837.
 frank 'recovered' this song without a tune;
 I have used the period melody 'as vanquished erin' as being more likely to be used in the wardroom, the 'officers mess',
for this type of song, which was used in their nightly entertainment.
 I find it interesting that it is the dangers of their daily life, rather than the frequent and bloody battles in which they engaged in in the 1812 war in americay, that they sing about.