True story of Pacific/NOV01 Storm/ Ship:Casablanca

More than twenty lives were in my hands
Their trust was placed in me
At the helm I stood command Upon a stormy sea

One hundred feet of steel hull
Was tossed just like a cork
Trapped beneath a waterfall and swallowed by the dark

In gale force winds the waves crashed down The keel creaked and groaned
The bow submerged the shore grew close We almost ran aground

I fought the wheel with all my might
I tacked to starboard than to port
I could'nt give up the fight And pushed the throttles full

Through the swells I saw the lights
The breakwater was giving in
A shrinking passage eighteen feet wide Our chances growing slim

The powerful surge exposed the floor
Of taunting jagged rocks
And when the void had filled again I turned her toward the docks

Edwin Dante Larson

Copyright ©2002 Edwin Dante Larson