# General > Literature >  The Sinking Of The Schooner 'islander'

## Kingetter

*Silently the schooner slipped beneath a satin sea, 
Mains'l majestic on mahogany coloured mast. 
Caulked catwalks cluttered, choked, 
Decks disappearing, doomed, dispatched to Davy Jones. 
Flotsam floating free and far, 
Jetsam jettisoned in jeweled ocean 
Hapless hands hang horizontally, horrified, helpless, hatless. 
Cushions cast carelessly cruise casually, corklike, comfortless. 
Water washes wistfully over winches 
Flag flies forlornly, flapping in futility. 
Bodies bobbing, bailing, bothered, bewildered, battling bravely. 
Cumulo cloud coloured canvases crash on creaking crates. 
Sheets stretched sternwards start snapping, shearing. 
Lifeless limbs lie languidly, lost, leewards. 
Pipes poke pointlessly to port. 
Bubbles boiling, burst breathlessly, bleeding. 
Destiny delineates direction, doubtless destruction and doom. 
Events, expedience, energy, expire - exhaustion. 
Aches, arthritis, ailments, allergies all abandoned. 
Duties, deeds, deification, done - dehydrated, dehumanised. 
Oil oozes out of overflowing orifices, 
Openings outpour omnicoloured oceans of objects. 
Old objections obviously overlooked. 
Over exposed, overawed, overcome. 
Cargoes - coconuts, cashew, calabash, cane, 
Contents consigned, cash crops. 
Collected, converted, collated, condemned. 
Cow-cake for Sea-cows, crustaceans. 
Baskets, bric-a-brac, bundles, breadfruit, 
Bananas, baccy, backchat all gone. 
Backers, brokers, bankrupt. 
Business beheaded.

Sinking, sadly, solemnly, surely. 
Sighs - shipmates signals 
Salt soured saliva sickens. 
Sinister shadows slink sideways. 
Fins flash, frenzied forays. 
Fangs filter fearful forms. 
Flesh falls, feather-light. 
Finished, fatal, final. 
James.

** 
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