Gloucester
" On reef and bar our schooners drove
Before the wind, before the swell;
By the steep sand-cliffs their ribs were stove, —
Long, long their crews the tale shall tell!
Of the Gloucester fleet are wrecks three score;
Of the Province sail two hundred more
Were stranded in that tempest fell.
The bedtime bells in Gloucester Town
That Sabbath night rang soft and clear;
The sailors' children laid them down, —
Dear Lord! Their sweet prayers couldst Thou hear?
Tis said that gently blew the winds;
The good wives, through the seaward blinds, Looked down the bay and had no fear."
— Edmund Claraence Stedman.