Legends and Memories of St John's Chapel -
Addressed to R. A. Riddick
by Major John W. Moore 

Part XIII - published in the Windsor Ledger Sept 14, 1899

Let my fancy once again
Lead along the golden path
Of a bright and gladsome youth,
For the while the aftermath
Of war and bitter memories
Are forgotten all by me,
So once again I am at home
With the same old company
That helped me face the mover of life
With ne'er a fear of coming strife.

It is as if I lived o'er
Those times thronged with happiness
Once again life's jocund mover
Makes existance full of bliss,
Can you wonder that I linger
Thus amid so many dear
Whom I have not seen so plainly
Now for many a weary year
Then let me dream a moment longer
And leave dull prose to others stronger

We use to be a people
That were bold and venturous,
And beside Captain Cotton
Others did themselves entrust
To the dangers of the Ocean,
And both Europe and the isles
Lying far down south below us
Saw the whiteness of their sails,
And many a goodly fortune rose
To men who faced stormy billows.

Captain Cotton was the first,
Then old Lewis Meridith,
Ben Wynns and Spencer Daniel
All were men of worth and pith,
And they all amassed such fortunes
That they left behind them names
Which remain still unforgotten
And should shame ends and aims
Of other men in this our day
Who neither thrive on work or play.

In the catalogue of those
Who were also mariners
And as captains and owners
Of their ships, left off in tears
Where faithful wives, when they would dare
To make venture once again,
Well knowing danger ever lurked
In the fearsome Spanish Main
But Spain and all her cruel might
Could not such souls with ease afright.

Like Drake and Hawkins were they,
So with spirit undismayed,
They sailed their ships where they could
Venture in their daring trade;
Then too pirates were swarming there
Within that fearful region
And the dangers multiplied 
Until their names were legion
Still these brave men held on their way
In spite of every enemy.

They tell that James Anderson
Was another of these wights
Who would sail alike prepared
For sea traffick or sea fights;
And that he, and Spencer Daniel
Well kept up the story old
Of these daring navigations.
And their dangers manifold
Across the sea and far away
Where tropic palms the trade winds sway.

It was a tragic story
Which was told me of the last
Of these bold mariners
Who dared face the ocean blast,
This was gallant Lewis Petty
Who was noted far and wide
For his handsome form and manner
So he had become the pride
Of many friends where ere he went
So brave and full of merriment.

Lavish of his gifts and smiles,
Tis no wonder he was loved
But a certain fair haired maid
He above others approved,
And at last the daring rover
Was enchained by her sweet smile;
And no wonder that she his wife
Fearful grew of dangers wild
He faced when ere he sailed away
To be gone for many a day.

The young wife and his baby
Were very dear unto him,
In spite of his high spirit
Secret tears would oft bedim
The black eyes that would never blanch
When the ocean rose in wrath
But these loved ones he could nourish
Best upon his beaten path
He wished that they should riches gain.
And so he could not leave the Main.

But the wife grew not weary
In her pleas for other plans
And at last Lewis promised
He would yield to her demands
One more voyage then forever
He would leave the solemn seas,
And no more would be a Captain,
Dare the rage of stormy breeze;
But basking in her gentle smile,
Would rest through days serenely mild.

With this promise off he sailed,
And the Plow Boy, his good ship
Gaily crossed the plunging breakers,
Which mark well the fearsome Rip
Where Ocean's waters meet with those
Flowing ever from the Sound;
Where the long swell combs in wrath,
That it here finds metes and bounds
And angry waves more angry grow,
When fell northeasters rage and flow.

The fair young wife and baby
Waited for his coming long;
And as he still was absent,
Sadder grew her look and song,
The soft cheeks lost their rosy bloom,
And the light within her eyes
Was like the latest gleam we see
When up on the Western skies,
We see the last pale gleam of day
Ere into night if fades away.

Far down amid the islets
Of the Carribean sea,
The Captain and the "Plow Boy"
Were as well as well could be;
His cargo had been all exchanged
For those dainties rich and rare,
Which the tropic islands ever,
In such wild profusion bear,
With good ship stowed from stem to stern,
The hour had come for his return.

The jolly eager seamen
Lifted anchor to its place
And then with sails distended,
Like some good steed in a race,
Swept the "Plow Boy" swiftly homeward
With all her bellying sails,
Like a white cloud went off flying
Highly favored by the gales;
No fear of evil then had they,
As on they fled upon their way.

Well through the "Middle Passage"
They had left the Great Antilles
And passing the Bahamas,
Still the breeze their canvas fills;
Soon they neared the long green head land
Known among us as Cape Fear,
Then they knew that home and dear ones
Lay to North and very near;
If no mischance to them shall come,
In three more days they'll be at home.

But Hatteras, the deadly,
Was yet waiting to be passed;
And well they knew its danger
And the fury of its blast;
But with hearts for home all hungry,
They still bent on every sail,
To bear them still faster onward,
For fear that the friendly gale
Should sink to some dead calm at last,
And step headway off Hatteras.

And as the Captain dreaded.
Just as they approached the coast,
The wind that long had served them
Veered round and there was lost;
The seas went down like some lake
Darkened waters all grew still,
And at that most dreadful moment,
Came a murmur that did chill
The boldest heart in all the crew,
For its dread import well they knew.

'Twas piteous then to see them,
As they waited for the rush
Of the tidal wave fast coming,
Which they knew would surely sink
Every thing afloat before it,
With its over-powering weight
Then the air grew darker still,
Happened then, that surely night
Had shut the doors of life and hope
Soundly on the seaman grope.

Not one lived to tell the story
Of how these brave men met their fate
Or how that raging tempest
Came with wind and wave so great
That the good ship like a ba---- burst,
And there perished in its might
And not a soul of all the crew
Saw the blush of coming light
On the next day when peace again
Was on the face of all the Main

'Twas a sad day in Hertford,
When at last the people knew
How gallant Captain Petty
Had perished with all his crew;
So the widow wept in silence
And grew weary with the years,
And long worshipping his image
Kept on weeping bitter tears,
As she recalled the days of yore
That would return to her no more.