Within its deep dark depths there are living creatures no man has ever seen.
The sea has also been a source of prose and poetry for a very long time. The poetry of Homer, the Norse sagas, may have been among the earliest recorded examples but it is reasonable to suggest that stories were told before writing evolved. Since those distant beginnings there have been millions of words written on the subject. Many of those in the form of great poetry.
Nowadays people are writing much less sea poetry than they did a hundred years ago. That was in the days of sailing ships, those big beautiful wooden structures that worked with the elements to cross the seas carrying goods or harvesting its bounty. In those days there was still the memory of the romantic tales of pirates and slavers. There's nothing really romantic about a ship nowadays though, when there are tankers bigger than a sports stadium and ocean liners the size of a dozen city blocks. In these days of rapid air travel the destinations no longer have that whiff of romance they once had when the quickest journey would take several months. Sailing is now statistically safer than most forms of travel and the frisson of danger passengers had when vessels had to fight their way around the Horn is long gone when you can sail through a continent instead of round it. Gone too are the gnarled old sea dogs who sat whittling on the dock-side and spinning yarns.
Today's sailor on leave, in his civvy clothes, could be mistaken for any other tradesman. A modern sailor wouldn't know any salt sea yarns and probably the only shanty he had ever heard would be "The Drunken Sailor" that he learned at school.
Radio, radar and GPS mean that ships seldom get lost, and there are far fewer shipwrecks. Even if there were to be a shipwreck where would we find an uninhabited desert island in these days of fully charted oceans?
But we can still relive the romantic tales we've read, and imagine ourselves back in "the good old days" participating in those tales of old such as Melville's Moby Dick or Stevenson's Treasure Island and we can still immerse ourselves in the glorious sea poetry that still exists.
As we read sea poetry we find such a wide range from the humour of Thackeray's Little Billee www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/2995 through the thrills of Alison's The Derelict www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/45732 to the romance of Byron's The Dark, Blue Sea. www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50356 . There is fantastic variety to sea poetry just as there is to the sea, and this collection endeavours to represent most of its moods.
Probably the most famous story poem of the sea is Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/474 although it contains one of the most misquoted phrases in literature. Is it
A "Water, Water everywhere ……and all the boards did shrink, or
B "Water, Water everywhere ……and never a drop to drink, or
C "Water, Water everywhere ……Nor any drop to drink
And who can say now whether Coleridge invented the superstition of an albatross as an omen of good luck or merely used an Old Salt’s tale? Whatever the answer he certainly penned an epic tale.
One of the oldest maritime poems extant is The Seafarer by an unknown early English poet www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50352 His tales of the miseries and perils of a seafaring life have often been emulated but rarely bettered.
Many poems have been written about the power of the sea and sometimes of the shipwrecks that often result from Neptune flexing his mighty muscles. Henry Lawson’s The Wreck of the Derry Castle www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/1014 , Robert Louis Stevenson’s a Christmas at Sea www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50355 , John Masefield's The Wanderer www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/7366 and Shipwreck by Mary Weston Fordham www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/48346 The loss of one's shipmates is powerfully represented by Cicely Fox Smith's Lee Fore Brace www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/45241 and her Cape Stiff www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/49977 Each has its own way of describing the awesome power of wind and waves in motion.
Some just write about the ocean as it is (in their minds anyway), Owen Seaman’s The Uses of Ocean www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50354
Jack Tar (or his civilian counterpart John) was also very good at self promotion as can be seen in Hamish Maclaren‘s Song of The Brown Sea Rat www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50391 James Jeffrey Roche’s A Sailor’s Yarn www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50353 and Aubrey Vincent Beardsley’s The Valiant www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/48740
There are a few poems where the sailors criticise their shipmates but not many. One by Cicely Fox Smith is called A Yarn of Dan's www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/45238
Sailors (and landlubber poets) often write about the ships which is perfectly understandable. Without ships there would be very few sailors! Classic examples include Arna Bontemps’ Nocturne of the Wharves www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/43423, John Joy Bell’s A Song of a Liner www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/50379 and Walter Mitchell's Tacking Ship Off Shore www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/41678
Sometimes the poets just write about how a sailor’s life is the best of all possible lives. For example Angus Cameron Robertson’s The Old Sea Dog Days www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/32853 John Masefield’s Sea Fever www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/14195 or Cicely Fox Smith’s The Traveller www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/46475
Sometimes they write of the sailor's firm resolve never to go to sea again. Good examples are John Masefield's Hell's Pavement www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/51275 and Cicely Fox Smith's A Dog's Life www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/48698
They also tell tales and sing songs (called fore-bitters) whilst sitting on the iron humps (bitts) at the front of the ship (fore). A classic example is Racing Clippers by Cicely Fox Smith www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/48714
Finally, sometimes it's a haunting yarn about a Port o' Dreams as this poem by Cicely Fox Smith www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/48206 or an old sailor remembering the days of his youth as in her The Ship-Keeper www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/51276
There are many many more maritime poems and let us all hope there will continue to be many more.
Jim Saville & Charley Noble
P. S. Remember the water, water question? Actually the answer is both A and C but never B.
My great love is Maritime Poetry. Poems about the sea and sailors.
This is just to give people an introduction to some of, what I think, are the best poems in this genre.
Unfortunately I have had to leave out many fine poems by living poets and songs by great writers. Don't let that stop you searching for yourself.
Adding your comment:
Good article.
I have missed that all my life. Sigh! Recently, the newspapers here in Mumbai,India have also carried a few awesome articles on the sea which taught me alot more about it than I had ever anticipated. This is truly a very well written column and beautiful collaborative effort. 
