William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Dying American TarH
The shot of the Briton was true;
He breathed not a sigh, but faintly he cried,
“Adieu! my brave shipmates, adieu!
Your banner you furl’d for a foe;
Let those stars ever shine at your mizen-mast head,
And the pathway to victory show.
Ere his spirit had fled to its rest;
‘Don’t give up the ship!’ let her sink ’neath the wave,
And the breeze bear her fate to the west.
Let me hear the words, ‘Struck has the foe!’
And contented my soul bids adieu to the world,
To its pleasures, its pain, and its wo.”
’Twas the enemy’s gun well he knew;
He raised up his head, and three times he cheer’d,
And expired as he utter’d “Adieu!”