Page:Memories of Virginia.djvu/127

 admiration in every language to pass over the cable of time. The birthplace of the ironclad navy and the story of a sea fight that will not only live in history and song but stand a record on canvas to hang on walls of fame as it lives in memory to give touch and color to the battle in the Harbor of Discovery, the Point of Comfort, the cradle kingdom of the white man of the new world.

It is left to us to honor the sons of the sea, brave men who go into the depths, with the old Viking's cry sounding over the waves of death and destruction, "Don't Give Up the Ship."

The sea tragedy in Hampton Roads, 1907, when eleven sons of the sea went down in sight of ships, in sight of land, near Fort Wool, known to all mariners "The Rip Raps," an anchorage of safety, is only second to the tragedy in Hampton Roads, 1862.

The death of eleven sons of the sea that June night, after a day of pleasure and pride amid environments to arouse patriotism and inspire emulation is one of pathetic sorrow, there are tears in eyes and regret in hearts for the young officers and seamen that met tragic death, but they died "on duty," the last of many bright days of their young lives was one to pay honor to the President of the United States, the Roosevelt of America. It is left to our people to honor the sea, and to patriotic memorial societies to deck the waves with flowers of remembrance to "Our Vikings" who sleep well under the waves of old ocean, and "In Memoriam" we waft the grand old anthem, "Out of the Depths," for the dead seamen who have crossed the eternal bar, who have reached the shore beyond.