Carmen Navale - Think of Christ and echo him

With sweat and blood and Blackwood pine
We laid her keel and faired her lines
Heave, lads, and let the echoes ring

With her keel tight-caulked she swims right well
Let torrents fall and wild gusts swell
Heave, lads, and let the echoes ring

The tempests howl, the storms dismay
But manly strength can win the day
Heave, lads, and let the echoes ring

For clouds and squalls will soon pass on
And victory lies with work well done
Heave, lads, and let the echoes ring

Hold fast! Survive! And all is well
You've suffered worse, He'll calm this swell
Heave, lads, and let the echoes ring

Satan acts to tire the brain
And by temptation souls are slain
Think, lads, of Christ and echo Him

With fixed resolve we scorn the foe
With virtues armed we pray and row
Think, lads, of Christ and echo Him

The king of virtues vowed a prize
For him who wins, for him who tries
Think, lads, of Christ and echo Him

Mashup of 2 translations: Tony Krogh, Anglandicus

I discovered this prayer in The Path of Celtic Prayer by Calvin Miller. However, the book didn't have the whole thing, as I discovered when I went looking for a version to copy into this post. This is going into my quote journal.

For those who don't know Columbanus was an early Irish missionary who traveled through Europe with his brother monks, evangelizing on the way. He viewed life as a pilgrimage and wrote this song which reflects that idea so well. I can see it in my mind's eye, the boat of men singing a call and response maybe, the crashing waves, the serious struggle accompanied by the joy of triumph making it upstream.

Journeying up the Rhine in 610, Columbanus and his disciples supposedly chanted his famous ‘boat song’. One can almost hear the Irish monks dig their oars into the Rhine’s formidable current as they struggle upstream. The poem compares the surging storm waters with the trials and struggles of the Christian life. Columbanus sees the tempests and storms of life overcome by the one who is in Christ. He frequently used the analogy of storms at sea as a picture for hardship and trials.

Anglandicus blog

Columbanus embarking, by an unknown artist
Source