Tragedy

Laura Gainey, a high-school friend, was swept off the deck of the Picton Castle, a barque on which she served as a lead seaman, when the ship was traveling through stormy weather. Though her death is tragic, she was able to seek and find the adventure she craved in life. Few seek and fewer still find the rich life she led.

O, think how, to his latest day,
When death just hovering claimed his prey,
With Palinure’s unaltered mood,
Firm at his dangerous post he stood;
Each call for needful rest repelled,
With dying hand the rudder held,
Till in his fall, with fateful sway,
The steerage of the realm gave way.

—Walter Scott