John Hunter-Duvar (1821–1899)

A GALLANT fleet sailed out to sea

With the pennons streaming merrily;

On the hulls the tempest lit,

And the great ships split

In the gale,

And the foaming fierce sea-horses

Hurled the fragments in their forces

To the ocean deeps,

Where the kraken sleeps,

And the whale.

The men are in the ledges’ clefts,

Dead, but with motion of living guise

Their bodies are rocking there,

Monstrous sea-fish and efts

Stare at them with glassy eyes

As their limbs are stirred, and their hair.

Moan, O sea!

O death at once and the grave,

And sorrow in passing, O cruel wave!

Let the resonant sea-caves ring,

And the sorrowful surges sing,

For the dead men rest but restlessly.

We do keep account of them,

And sing an ocean requiem

For the brave.