Excellent collection of popular songs (1815-1825)/The Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay, O.

Loud roar’d the dreadful thunder;
The rain a deluge show’rs;
The clouds were rent asunder,
By lightning’s vivid pow’rs:
The night both drear and dark,
Our poor devoted bark,
There she lay,
Till next day,
In the Bay of Biscay, O.

Now dash’d upon the billow,
Her op’ning timbers creak;
Each fears a wat’ry pillow,
None stop the dreadful leak;
To cling to slipp’ry shrouds,
Each breathless seaman crowds.
As she lay,
Till the day,
In the Bay of Biscay, O.

At length the wish’d for morrow,
Broke through the hazy sky;
Absorb’d in silent sorrow,
Each heav’d the bitter sigh ;
The dismal wreck to view,
Struck horror to our crew
As she lay,
On that day,
In the Bay of Biscay, O.

Her yielding timbers sever,
Her pitchy seams are rent;
When Heaven, all bounteous ever,
its boundless mercy sent;
A sail in sight appears !
We hail her with three cheers,
Now we sail,
With the gale,
From the Bay of Biscay, O.