Rick not Will, Mark.
That is the character William Mowett's couplet lifted from the poet William Falconer; it was used in the first novel Master and Commander of O'Brian's brilliant Aubrey/Maturin series of 20 books.
When I'm up in Wellfleet I often go to the Marconi site where right offshore lies the wreck of Whidah Galley. Standing there during a Winter gale one really appreciates the terror of being driven upon the unforgiving sandbars while being pounded by the immense North Atlantic seas.
You should come north sometime to view the patch of ocean where she lies and then visit Barry's museum.
