oor man broke his leg.

_Chorus._

'So my British tars, etc.

'I've twice myself been shipwreck'd,
Twenty-two years at sea,
But never saw a gang of thieves
Before that very day;
Had it not been for Captain Thomas,
And his loyal Preventive crew,
They'd have stolen the cargo and the deck,
The mast and rigging too.

_Chorus._

'So my British tars, etc.

'This schooner came from Dublin,
To London she was bound;
I could not believe such daring thieves
Stood on the British ground.
The Farmers of the country,[8]
That distress ought to relieve,
Some of them were stealing butter,
While others stole the beef.

_Chorus._

'So my British tars, etc.

'Seamen call this place West Barbary.
To me it does appear,
More of the cargo would have sav'd,
Were they wrecked on Algier:
The people might as well come in,
Rob the market or the fair;
But to rob distressed seamen,
No one had business there.

_Chorus._

'So my British tars, etc.

'Now to complete this shipwreck,
And for to end this song,
I've told you nothing but the truth,
No mortal I have wrong'd.
Great praise is due to Pethick.[9]
His wife and family brave,
That did their best that very time
Poor seamen's lives to save.

_Chorus._

'So my British tars, etc.'

[Footnote 8: St. Ginnes.]

[Footnote 9: The cottager by the seaside.]

Kingsley remarks that 'an agricultural people is generally as cruel to
wrecked seamen as a fishing one is merciful,' and speaks of the many
stories he has heard of 'baysmen' on this coast 'risking themselves like
very heroes to save strangers' lives, and at the same time beating off
the labouring folk who swarmed down for plunder from the inland hills.'

Retracing the way to Northam Burrows, passing through them to their most
northerly point, and crossing the Taw, one arrives at a strip of
shore--Braunton Burrows--which corresponds to the strip on the southern
bank of the river.

'A great chaos of wind-strewn sand-hills,' inhabited by armies of
rabbits, and haunted by peewits and gulls, the Burrows are brightened by
masses of wild-flowers, from the great mullein--once known as
hedge-taper, because of its pale torch of blossoms--to the tiny delicate
rose-pink bells of the bog-pimpernel. 'To the left were rich, allu