A MONUMENTAL MEMORIAL OF MARINE MERCY BEING An Acknowledgement of an High Hand of Divine Deliverance on the Deep in the Time of distress, IN A Late Voyage from Boston in New-England To LONDON, Anno 1683.  
In a Poem. By Richard Steere.  
To which is added Another Occasioned by Several Remarkable Passages happening at the Birth of a Male Child on Board the same Ship in her Voyage Returning 1684.  
By the same Author than a Passenger.  
Printed at BOSTON in New-England by Richard Pierce for James Cowse Stationer Anno 1684.   

To the Reader.  
Reader  
I Here present thee with an Impartial Narrative, Collected from a Diurnal, and other Credible Informations of some Persons who had a share in this so never to be forgotten a Deliverance, and at whose Importunity it was Reduced into this small Tract, and shrouded in the modern Attire of Measure and Cadency, whose even and easy Pace being more Alluring and Captivating (Especially with youth, or the Crittically Ingenious of this Age) than the Elaborate Volumes of Prose left to us by our Worthy Ancestors, may probably the sooner Decoy or Invite thy Perusal.  
I could not Conveniently avoid the use of some Sea phrases The Subject being a Sea Deliverable, though they may seem improper and unintelligible to a Land Capacity. And if I have erred in missapplying those Terms of Art, I hope the Ingenious Mariner will attribute it to the want of Experience in the Tarpolin Tongue:  
But to put a period to this Epistle, 
Read and Admire the Mercy,— Tho' the Style  
May make thee think it hardly worth the while.    angel 
☿ ♂   

A MONUMENTAL MEMORIAL OF MARINE MERCY etc.  

SInce Every Quill is silent to Relate  
What being known must needs be wondered at  
I take the boldness to present your Eye  
With Safty's Prospect in Extremity,  
Which though not Clothed with Academic Skill,  
Or lofty Raptures of a Poet's Quill;  
But wrapped in rags, through which your eyes may see  
The Naked Truth in plain simplicity.   

I without further prologue Launch with Ink  
With Captain Balston in th' Adventure Pinck;  
Who in December on the fourteenth day,  
His Anchors weighed in Massachusets BAY,  
New-England's Chiefest Port, and sailing on,  
Soon laid the Land below the Horizon.   

The Sea was kind, the Sky serene and clear,  
All seem to smile, no threating Frowns appear;  
Yet sometimes Clouds of Rain, of Hail, of Snow,  
Sometimes the winds more lofty, sometimes low,  
The Mariners and Passengers a'board,  
Enjoying what the Vessel did afford  
With Satisfaction, and in full Content:  
This good beginning was Encouragement  
Of good success, in hope and expectation  
The Ship might prove an Ark of preservation;  
Her swelling sails gave her a nimble motion,  
Making her Keel to plough the Yielding Ocean,  
Whose little Billows still her Bow out braves,  
Glideing Triumphant o'er the Curled waves.   

Thus for five weeks the gentler winds did play  
Upon the Ocean's Surface to convey  
Our little Pink, filling her pliant Sails  
With easy Breezes, sweet Top-gallant Gailes:  

And now the Mariners by Judgement found  
We did approach nigh to Great Britain's ground  
And therefore heaved the Deep-sea lead to sound,   
Which though they Fathomed not did Truth afford,  
For the same night a Land bird came a'board,  
And the next morning we beheld two more  
Which made the Judgement good they gave before.   

Had we continued thus upon the Deep  
We had been Charmed into a drowsy sleep  
Of calm Security, nor had we known  
The Excellence of PRESERVATION;  
We had been Dumb and silent to Express  
Affectedly the Voy'ges good success.   

But to awake and Rouse our sleepy minds,  
The Po'wrs above let lose th' unruly winds,  
heavens milder Puffs with violence at last  
Let fly more fierce, and blow a stronger Blast:  
The darkened Sky with gloomy Clouds o'er spread,  
Whose moistened fleeces have Enveloped  
Tempestous Flaws which Issue more and more  
In Thunder's Language, or as Cannons roar:  
The weighty Seas Roul from the Deeps beneath:  
Hill stands on hill by force of Heaven blown breath,  
And from the rocks foundations do arise  
As though resolved to storm th' Impending Skies;  
Flaws from those lofty Battlements are hurled,  
As to a Chaos they would shake the world:  
Thus as between a war of Sea and Heaven,  
From place to place our little Ship is driven;  
And by the Seas tossed like a ball in sport,  
From wave to wave in Neptune's Tennis Court.   

While thus the winds & seas their powers dispute  
A neighbouring object did our Eyes salute,  
A Sail to windward; (in Distress no doubt)  
Who Fired a Gun and heaved their Colours out;  
We made her English, but no help could give,  
The Lofty Seas found each enough to live  
But in the morning we to windward were  
And Bearing down resolved to speak with her,  
And understood she from East India came,  
Under Command of Captain Hid by Name  
Burden six hundred Tuns and Ninety Men  
Having about ten months from India been,  
And had been Beating six weeks on the Coast  
Wanting Provis'on, almost spent and Lost:  
An Interval of storms became their friend,  
And gave us leave some little help to lend:  
The storm renewing its Impetuous Force  
Did Each from Other further off Divorce,  
Yet we might see them two or three days more,  
But since have heard that they were drove a'shore  
Somewhere in Cornwall, on the Western Coast,  
And every Soul except two Boys were lost.   

Still the resistless winds rebellious grow,  
As they the Universe would Overthrow,  
The ponderous seas like Rolling Mountains still,  
Each Billow seeming an Alpean hill  
By its prodigious Altitude: Despair  
And fear of Danger, moves all lips to prayer  
Mixed with Industry, but Industry fails,  
The Pumps are now in use but not the Sails,  
The Artist 's Quadrants now are useless grown,  
For Darkness dwells upon our Horizon;  
Thus we for several days upon the Ocean  
Did Ly a Hull, keeping our Pumps in motion;  
Till January twenty sixth at night,  
A mighty Sea did Overwhelm us quite,  
Which falling down with a resistless stroke  
Both our Ships Waste (or well built Gunwalls') broke  
And carr'd away: now seeming like a Wreck  
From the Forecastle to the Quarter Deck,  
The Long boat, Windless, Captstern, with the blow  
Besides two weighty Anchors from the Bow,  
With Ropes, & Ring-bolts (where the Boat was fast,  
And we constrained to cut our Mizzen mast,)  
All lost at once: Afflictions now prevail,  
And each man's heart and strength gins to fail;  
Sometimes we seem to sink sometimes to float,  
The Master's mate tear's from his back his Coat  
And stuffs between the Timbers; then they cry  
For Bedding, rugs, and Blankets eagerly,  
Which when obtained they Crowd into each place  
Where streams of water Issued in apace:  
But all Industry seems without success,  
The Raging storm grows rather more than Less;  
Over those rugs they added skins of Bears,  
And two new Clothes which our new main sail spares;  
Here may the hand of providence be Eyed,  
The sail was made by those two clothes too wide,  
Which by so much, we had made so much less  
But a few days before our great Distress;  
Ropes Fore and Aft were stretched to secure  
The Mariners, who scarcely could endure  
Those Big-sweled Billows, (what are feeble men?)  
So oft washed in, and out and in again,  
Sometimes upon, sometimes within the Ocean;  
The Pumps never sucking though in Constant motion;  
Whilst all the men and women then onboard  
With earnest Cries did call upon the LORD.  
The Seas did frequently overflow the ship,  
And we were often buried in the Deep:  
The Chests between Decks swim as in a flood,  
Where men up to their knees in water stood,  
Expelling every Moment grim looked Death  
With that cold Element would stop their breath.   

When suddenly a voice salutes our ears,  
With Joy unspeakable amidst our Fears,  
One of the PUMPS does SUCK! who can believe  
What unexpected Comfort a Repreive  
Brings a Condemned Convict: So that Voice  
Caused each Cast down spirit to Rejoice.   

But on the Fifth of February we  
Shipped a prodigious Mountain of a sea,  
Which with a ponderous and resistless Struck  
The Fixed Table and the Benches broke,  
And with its Force Oped the  Door.  
A weighty Chest of Tools away it bore,  
Then with loud Echoes every Tongue declares  
Our Period come, our Elopes' were now Despairs,  
For we lay buried in the Ocean's Womb,  
And might conclude it was our wat'ry Tomb;  
But an Almighty power became our Friend,  
Causing our buried Vessel to Ascend,  
And by degrees climb up the Mountain waves,  
From whence our eyes might view our fluid Graves;  
Thus the Great God did Snatch us from below,  
Unto whose power we all our safeties owe.   

Some few days after we a Ship might see,  
Which Coming up with understood to be  
For England bound, and from Virginia came,  
Gregory Sugar was her Captain's Name;  
So Leaky (that tho they did what they could)  
She had six or seven foot water in the Hold,  
The Safety of their Lives they only sought,  
For to preserve their Vessel they could not,  
And Hoisting out their Boat to come a'board  
Which could not Safety to them all afford,  
Yet Thirteen of them soon into it pressed:  
And putting off, promised to fetch the Rest:  
When they came nigh our Side such fear was shown,  
None sought the good of others but his own,  
Each striving to preserve himself with haste,  
without regard to make the Painter fast;  
(Had they Endeavoured? it had been in vain)  
The Boat such wrong and damage did sustain;  
In Laying us aboard her Bows were Staved,  
That 'twas mere Mercy any man was saved:  
Soon the Disabled Boat was gone a drift,  
And now no hope of preservat'on left  
For those behind, who were in number five,  
For 'twas not possible the Ship should Live,  
Nor with our Vessel did we dare come nigh,  
For still the troubled Sea ran mountains high,  
Tho their Entreaties, Piercing Cries and Groans,  
Might even draw Remorsness out of Stones;  

And now because of the approaching night,  
We did advise them to hang out a Light,  
Which but till eight a Clock appeared in Sight;   
After which time it did no more appear,  
And we concluded (as we well might fear)  
They then went down: Tho we could not relieve  
Their wants, their loss we could not choose but grieve.   

And now some Comfort we begin to find,  
The winds are Calmer and the Seas more kind,  
Now heavens alscourging hand its strokes withdrew  
And former Consolations did Renew,  
By giving us at length the Sight of Land,  
By an O'er ruling providential hand:  
Our Cloudy cares appear to fly apace,  
And Comforts seemingly supply their place;  
The fourteenth day at Plymouth we Arrive,  
With those thirteen we had preserved alive:  
The nineteenth day for London we set sail,  
With not too much wind, but a moderate Gale:  
But as if Heaven with anger should reprove,  
That we those mercies did not well Improve;  
Its Breath comes forth with Fury as before,  
And we though in the Downs and nigh the Shore,  
Must feel more strokes of the chastising Rod  
Of our offended of our angry GOD.   

The Two and twentieth day much wind did blow,  
When in the Downs we let our Anchor go,  
But it came home: we our Shift Anchor Cast,  
Which (insignificant) came home as fast,  
And we were driven up alongst the Side  
Of a Ship there, which did at Anchor ride,  
Our Anchor took her Cable, and did pass  
Up with a speedy motion to her Hass,  
Which at their Bows they Cutting from the Cable,  
And t'other Anchor being too unable  
To bring us up, broke in the shank. and we  
Again (by Violence) Drove out to Sea;  
We thought to Anchor then in I'oulstone Bay,  
And let our small Bower go without delay,  
Which like a rotten stick was quickly broke  
(When once it came to strain) both flewks & stock,  
Neither Shift-Anchor, Best nor yet Small Bower  
To Bring us up had strength enough or power;  
And in the Afternoon the winds Restrain  
Their furious Blasts, now only did remain  
Our small Cedge Anchor, (unto which we must  
Our Lives, our Ship, and all her Cargo trust,)  
Which Letting go, heavens care did so provide,  
That we that Ebb secure in safety Ride;  
From which our apprehensions may Inspect,  
How the Great God by Small means doth protect,  
Whose strength can make our strongest cables weak,  
Our Cobwebs strong, no earthly strain can break,  
That we might put no Trust in Earthen Powers:  
For weak is all the Fortitude of Ours.  
An Anchor we that night from Shore obtain.  
And so Return into the Downs again,  
And weighing thence, favoured with winds & floods,  
Our selves in Safety with our ship and goods,  
The Twenty fifth (assisted by the Lord)  
Arrived at London and at Ratcliff Moored.   

Thou God of this great Vast, that dost Command  
With thy Almighty Hand,  
Water, Earth, Air, and Fire  
(The Elements:) the Sun, the Moon, and Stars  
Act not their own affairs,  
But what thou dost require:  
O who can view thy power, & not thy power admire.  
'tis thou Alone art our alone support,  
Thy Mercy's our strong fort,  
Thou giv'st us length of days,  
To thee th' Almighty and Tri-une JEHOVE,  
Dwelling in heaven above;  
Be Everlasting Praise;  
O who can taste thy Good, & not Thanksgiving Raise.   
 depiction of the ship Adventure Pinck on the high seas   

A POEM OCCASIONALLY WRITTEN ON Some Remarkables happening at the Birth of the Son of Thomas and Sarah Wallis upon the Atlantic or Western Ocean, July the 26 1684.  

Wallis, (for yet thou hast no other Name)  
This Poem, if thou live to read the same  
In thy maturer years, thou mayst from thence  
Ground Contemplations on God's Providence.   

At thy Nativity the Southern Gales  
With Gentler Breezes faintly filled our Sailed,  
The Curled Ocean's wrinkled Brows were down,  
Whose Surface Smiled that seemed before to frown,  
Neptune's Attendants from the Deeps resort,  
And dance Levaltoes in his wat'ry Court;  
When thou wert Born, July the Twenty sixth,  
Grampas and Sholes of Porpoise (Intermixed)  
Attend the Ship, and Pitterels take Wing,  
Both Fish and Fowl Advene the gossiping:  
And when the Evening of the day drew nigh,  
The big swelled Clouds darkened the Azure Sky  
Shaking their dropping Fleeces on the Main,  
And to their Element return again;  

Lightnings bright Flashes issued from the Sky,  
And Peals of Thunder Echoed from on high:  
These things attended thy Nativity.   
The Climate where thou thy first breath didst draw,  
Was between Europe and America:  
About the Latitude of Forty four,  
And Newfoundland was judged the nighest shore:  
The Pink Adventure served at once instead  
Of thy Birth-chamber, Cradle, and thy Bed;  
Hold not the meaness of the place in Scorn,  
For Christ himself was in a Stable born:  
When thy reflecting thoughts shall call to mind,  
The Hardships incident to Humane kind,  
Then let the Eye of Faith thy mind Convey  
To view the Manger where thy Saviour lay.  
Whom God hath sent to bear thy sinful load;  
Thou hast no more to do but serve thy GOD.   

Now may the Parents of the Child enjoy,  
Succeeding Comforts in their Sea-born Boy,  
May his maturer years cause Joy and mirth,  
Sweetening the Troubles that attend his Birth.  
May they those Consolating Mercies prize,  
As from the God of Mercies they Arise,  
And from his neverfailing Fountains flow,  
To make their minds up to Thanksgiving grow,   

If the Boy lives and Capable to Read,  
Tho the mean Author of these Lines be Dead,  
Yet 'tis his will the Youth should have the same,  
And therefore, thereunto Subscribes his name.   
RICHARD STEERE.  
FINIS.