Windjammers
It was early in last century,
Though it seems just yesterday.
Aboard a full rigged sailing ship1,
En route to Tampa Bay.
Her white wings spread so gracefully,
To catch the deep sea breeze.
The wind’s sound in the rigging set,
The mind and soul at ease.
Each sense, it seemed, was fixed upon,
The thing that made it right.
The air was clean and sweet to breathe,
The sun was warm and bright.
Then aft of us, far in our wake,
We spied a distant smear.
A smudge of black that fouled the sky,
A signal spelled out clear.
It was a steamer bearing down,
And running up our course.
And every man aboard us knew,
Someday we’d face a choice.
The steamer came up wind of us,
Her engines growled their song.
Our captain swore and drove us up,
To pile the canvas on.
She added speed and pulled abreast,
Her stack spewed filthy soot.
We cranked on every rag we had,
And gained another foot.
Her captain’s smile shone briefly,
As he watched his smoke drift south,
To soil our sails and leave a gritty,
Coal taste in each mouth.
Then for a bit we paced her there,
With bones in both our teeth2.
Before the wind dropped off a point,
And dropped our speed beneath.
The steamer pulled ahead of us,
And drove off to the future.
While we, diminished, fell behind,
All feeling less secure.
We made an honest living,
Hauling rope and canvas taut,
But losing to that steamer showed,
No matter how hard fought
The age of sail was drifting off,
A derelict this day.
The sun was setting on our ways,
And steam would now hold sway.
It all comes down to speed you see,
Though choking smoke did stain,
The air that cleanly pushed us out,
Along the shipping lane.
But God, they were so beautiful,
With strength, romance and grace.
No steamer ever matched their style,
No sail could match steam’s pace.
1. Full rigged sailing ship - Wikipedia classes a full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged.
2. Bone in her teeth refers to the white foam surrounding a ship’s bow when under way and making speed.
It was early in last century,
Though it seems just yesterday.
Aboard a full rigged sailing ship1,
En route to Tampa Bay.
Her white wings spread so gracefully,
To catch the deep sea breeze.
The wind’s sound in the rigging set,
The mind and soul at ease.
Each sense, it seemed, was fixed upon,
The thing that made it right.
The air was clean and sweet to breathe,
The sun was warm and bright.
Then aft of us, far in our wake,
We spied a distant smear.
A smudge of black that fouled the sky,
A signal spelled out clear.
It was a steamer bearing down,
And running up our course.
And every man aboard us knew,
Someday we’d face a choice.
The steamer came up wind of us,
Her engines growled their song.
Our captain swore and drove us up,
To pile the canvas on.
She added speed and pulled abreast,
Her stack spewed filthy soot.
We cranked on every rag we had,
And gained another foot.
Her captain’s smile shone briefly,
As he watched his smoke drift south,
To soil our sails and leave a gritty,
Coal taste in each mouth.
Then for a bit we paced her there,
With bones in both our teeth2.
Before the wind dropped off a point,
And dropped our speed beneath.
The steamer pulled ahead of us,
And drove off to the future.
While we, diminished, fell behind,
All feeling less secure.
We made an honest living,
Hauling rope and canvas taut,
But losing to that steamer showed,
No matter how hard fought
The age of sail was drifting off,
A derelict this day.
The sun was setting on our ways,
And steam would now hold sway.
It all comes down to speed you see,
Though choking smoke did stain,
The air that cleanly pushed us out,
Along the shipping lane.
But God, they were so beautiful,
With strength, romance and grace.
No steamer ever matched their style,
No sail could match steam’s pace.
1. Full rigged sailing ship - Wikipedia classes a full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged.
2. Bone in her teeth refers to the white foam surrounding a ship’s bow when under way and making speed.