Robert M. Simmons  

from Tracings (Poems 1964-1992)

                The Bonnie

 (Based on a Newspaper Account)

The coldest wind the year could boast

battered the sea and barren coast.

In cottages along the steep

fishermen's wives tossed in their sleep.

Like boulders from a mountain slide,

waves slammed against the Bonnie's side.

But Bonnie's crew remained at ease

for they had sailed in rougher seas,

and they had every new device

to detect hidden rocks and ice--

electric ears and eyes to steer

the Bonnie safely to her pier.

That night the Bonnie ran aground

and broke against a jagged mound.

The startled crew abandoned ship,

knowing the perils of their trip.

Their boat was found by light of day,

the crew embalmed in frozen spray.

                             © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

Note.  This poem, written in 1970, is based upon the sinking of the Cape Bonnie along the coast of Nova Scotia in February 1967 and is dedicated to the eighteen brave men who lost their lives in this disaster and their families.

Photograph of the Cape Bonnie lying on a reef

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Subjects: poems about, shipwrecks, true stories, Nova Scotia, Cape Bonnie, fishermen, poetry, narrative poems

The Bonnie