Poems (Fields)/The Alarmed Skipper

by James Thomas Fields

THE ALARMÈD SKIPPER

"It was an ancient Mariner."

Many a long, long year ago,
 Nantucket skippers had a plan
Of finding out, though "lying low,"
 How near New York their schooners ran.

They greased the lead before it fell,
 And then, by sounding through the night,―
Knowing the soil that stuck, so well,
 They always guessed their reckoning right.

A skipper grey, whose eyes were dim,
 Could tell, by tasting, just the spot,
And so below he'd "dowse the glim"—
 After, of course, his "something hot."

Snug in his berth, at eight o'clock,
 This ancient skipper might be found;
No matter how his craft would rock,
 He slept—for skippers' naps are sound!

The watch on deck would now and then
 Run down and wake him, with the lead;
He'd up, and taste, and tell the men
 How many miles they went ahead.

One night, 't was Jotham Marden's watch,
 A curious wag,—the pedlar's son,—
And so he mused, (the wanton wretch,)
 "To-night I'll have a grain of fun.

"We're all a set of stupid fools
 To think the skipper knows by tasting
What ground he's on,—Nantucket schools
 Don't teach such stuff, with all their basting!"

And so he took the well-greased lead,
 And rubbed it o'er a box of earth
That stood on deck—(a parsnip bed)—
 And then he sought the skipper's berth.

"Where are we now, Sir? Please to taste."
 The skipper yawned, put out his tongue,
Then oped his eyes in wondrous haste,
 And then upon the floor he sprung!

The skipper stormed, and tore his hair,
 Thrust on his boots, and roared to Marden,
"Nantucket's sunk, and here we are
 Right over old Marm Hackett's garden!"