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| OLD SNAKE AND MORNING STAR |
admin writes, "This poem was submitted by Dave Goss, local author, poet and storyteller:
The following poem was written in 1986, two years after the event actually occured. Frank (Snake) Davis, a retired union boss, and I sailed from Bay City, to Tawas. It was quite an adventure. It happened to be the same night as the Port Huron to Mackinaw Sailboat Race.
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Old Snake and Morning Star
by Dave Goss
One steamy night in '84
We started on our way.
Old Snake Davis, and myself
In his 27-foot O'Day.
A sturdy ship, a seasoned vet
Through many storms had sailed.
Stood high and proud, through raging seas,
And scarcely wet her rails.
The toughest test was yet to come,
The toughest test by far
For two men far away from shore
In a ship called Morning Star.
If good winds blew, away we'd sail,
We'd sail all through the night.
Then, sometime in late morning,
The Tawas pier we'd site.
We motored out the Saginaw,
The dinghy brought in tow.
We passed the buoy at Seagull Isle,
Where off-shore breezes blow.
Prepared (we thought,) for anything,
Come rain, come wind, come sleet.
Snake turned our bow into the wind,
While I pulled in the sheets.
The twelve-knot wind we'd hoped for,
We simply could not find.
The jib, the main flopped listlessly,
Of wake there was no sign.
While Saginaw Bay lay tranquil,
Our glasses we did raise.
Snake told of South-Sea battles,
And by-gone union days.
Time was at a stand-still,
Good friends with time to spare.
We sat there for an hour or more,
Life held not a care.
A setting sun sent golden clouds,
Cascading in the West.
When the sun sank from our sight,
T'was then began the test.
Many a tale there has been told
Of deadly, angry gale.
From Huron waters mountains grow,
That cause stout heart to wail.
A chilling breeze filled all the sails,
And sent us on our way.
Where placid, mirrored seas had been,
A towering torrent swayed.
When blackness fell upon the sky,
A billion stars shown out.
The wind kept building up in strength,
And battered us about.
The knotmeter we buried,
While surfing down the swell.
Snake pulled the jib,
Then reefed the main.
But still we flew like hell.
We flew wearily into the night,
'Til passing Gravelly Shoals,
Who's siren song, in mournful horn,
Can shake the bravest souls.
"How can it be we've come this far?"
Snake yelled above the blast.
"We've been gone just three short hours,
Now Gravelly Shoals we've passed."
T'was then I felt the fervor,
Of sailors long-since dead,
Who caught the wind, and challenged seas,
With grandeur in their head.
Who wandered far from safety's shore,
The heavens for their guide.
Who's tattered, wind-blow faces,
From danger would not hide.
The fear of what we faced that night,
Suddenly was gone.
Courage welled within the breast.
A sailor I'd become.
We sailed on, and on with zeal that night,
"Til Tawas light grew near.
'Twas then that Snake yelled from the bow:
"We're going to hit the pier!"
I guess 'twas mostly instinct,
That took control just then.
We came about with lightning speed,
And turned into the wind.
The boom shot by, just overhead,
With deadly, cammon force.
We tacked beyond the breakwater.
Again, we changed our course.
We motored 'round the protective wall:
A citadel against the blow.
We moored a distance from the dock,
Our dinghy still in tow.
Then, exhausted, fell asleep,
Awoke with morning glare.
When upon the dock we stood,
We could do naught but stare.
The many ships surrounding us,
Most' the ships we saw,
Had left Port Huron, night before,
And raced towards Mackinaw.
Several ships had lost their masts,
Some had lost much more.
One racing ship, while being towed,
Sank quite near the shore.
Tales were told about that night,
When waves as big as masts,
Had sent the veteran sailor,
Retreating from the blast.
Old Snake and I were proud that day,
Proud we'd come so far.
And braved the raging seas on night,
In a ship called Morning Star.
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Posted on Jul 24, 2007 13:37pm.
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