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The Cruise of the Mighty
“P”
Author Unknown
Submitted by Dan Hewitt
Not many sailors have rounded
the Horn
And seen the high cliffs in the early morn
But those of the Power remember the time
And the story related here in rhyme.
From under the lee of Antillies Pearl
With our wake frothing white in a twenty knot swirl
We sped toward the doldrums on courses complex
Bound for the Kingdom of Neptunus Rex.
A few of the crew were seawise it’s true,
But outnumbering them were those who were new.
New to the Equatorial clime,
To transit the mythical line the first time.
Welcomed by all of the shellback group
Were Davey Jones and the Royal Troup
King and Queen and rotund child,
Saw Polywogs before them filed.
The trials were over e’re scarce begun,
The verdicts were guilty, everyone.
Then came the doctor, the short locks,
The dentist, the water, and then the stocks.
But soon it was over and shellbacks all,
We hurried in answer to Rio’s call;
A wonderful stay, though brief it seemed,
Till back once more to sea, we steamed.
The bleak South Atlantic laid claim to the scene
To the Falklands and South steamed the Power, serene.
At times we saw whales or an albatross,
And at night we looked North to the Southern Cross.
We bounded ahead bent for the horn
Awaiting the following Sunday morn.
At sunrise we knew we’d completed our feat,
By rounding the point where the two oceans meet.
The Cape lay to starboard bathed in the dawn’s red
Giving no indication of what lay ahead
With fuel running low, through troughs and o’er heights,
We battled huge seas for three days and nights.
Past the Straits of Magellan to Chile we steamed
While over us cascades of water streamed
Progress was slow in a storm of this kind
We’d a schedule to keep and were running behind.
We somehow arrived on the proper date
About out of fuel and a few hours late
A storm that arose about noon next day
Forced us to sea and shortened our stay.
To the North lay Peru, our next port of call,
The thought of which surely excited us all;
North steadily steaming, in Lima to stay,
Though to moor in Callao, a few miles away.
Clouds covered the sky as we lay off Peru,
But soon they disbursed and the sun burroughed through
With the tying up finished, and liberty started,
The fortunate half in haste soon departed.
After tours and some shopping, a party or two,
We regretted departing from Lima, Peru.
Then through the canal with a swim in Gatun,
With thought of returning to Newport soon.
A swift passage north, then home was in view,
We had done it the hard way—one of the few.
It took just seven weeks before we made fast,
The cruise round the horn was a thing of the past.
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