Boatswain!

 A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
 Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain.
Master
Boatswain!
Boatswain
Here, master. What cheer?

Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown
furze, anything.

Master
Good, speak to th’ mariners. Fall to ’t yarely,
or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!
 He exits. Enter Mariners.
Boatswain
Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my
hearts! Yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to th’
Master’s whistle.—Blow till thou burst thy wind, if
room enough!
 Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others.
Alonso
Good boatswain, have care. Where’s the Master?
Play the men.
Boatswain
I pray now, keep below.
Antonio
Where is the Master, boatswain?
Boatswain
Do you not hear him? You mar our labor.
Keep your cabins. You do assist the storm.
Gonzalo
Nay, good, be patient.
Boatswain
When the sea is. Hence! What cares these
roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence!
Trouble us not.
Gonzalo
Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
Boatswain
None that I more love than myself. You are
a councillor; if you can command these elements
to silence, and work the peace of the present, we
will not hand a rope more. Use your authority. If
you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and
make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance
of the hour, if it so hap.—Cheerly, good
hearts!—Out of our way, I say!  He exits.
Gonzalo
I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks
he hath no drowning mark upon him. His
complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good
Fate, to his hanging. Make the rope of his destiny
our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be
not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
 He exits with Alonso, Sebastian, and the other courtiers.
 Enter Boatswain.
Boatswain
Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, lower!
Bring her to try wi’ th’ main course.
(A cry within.) A plague upon this howling! They are
louder than the weather or our office.
 Enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo.
Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o’er and
drown? Have you a mind to sink?
Sebastian
A pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable dog!
Boatswain
Work you, then.
Antonio
Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!
We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
Gonzalo
I’ll warrant him for drowning, though the
ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky
as an unstanched wench.
Boatswain
Lay her ahold, ahold! Set her two courses.
Off to sea again! Lay her off!
 Enter more Mariners, wet.
Mariners
All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!
 Mariners exit.
Boatswain
What, must our mouths be cold?
Gonzalo
The King and Prince at prayers. Let’s assist
them, for our case is as theirs.
Sebastian
I am out of patience.
Antonio
We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chopped rascal—would thou
mightst lie drowning the washing of ten tides!
 Boatswain exits.
Gonzalo
He’ll be hanged yet, though every drop of
water swear against it and gape at wid’st to glut him.
A confused noise within: “Mercy on us!”—“We split, we
split!”—“Farewell, my wife and children!”—
“Farewell, brother!”—“We split, we split, we split!”
Antonio
Let’s all sink wi’ th’ King.
Sebastian
Let’s take leave of him.
 He exits with Antonio.
Gonzalo
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown
furze, anything. The wills above be done, but I
would fain die a dry death.
 He exits.