Christmas at Sea

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
We saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call
"By Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried
"It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old