When through the torn sail

General information

Lyricist: Reginald Heber.

Notes on selected settings

• Dudley Buck SATB
• Gustav Stolpe SATB

Settings by composers (automatically updated)

• Dudley Buck — When thro' the torn sail, Op. 89, No. 4b  English SATB
• Gustav Stolpe — When through the torn sail  English SATB

Text and translations

English text 1  When through the torn sail the wild tempest is raging, When o’er the dark wave the red lightning is gleaming, Nor hope lends a ray the poor seaman to cherish, We fly to our Maker, “Save, Lord, or we perish.” 2  O Jesus, once rocked on the breast of the billow, Aroused by the shriek of despair from Thy pillow, Now seated in glory, the mariner cherish, Who cries in his anguish, “Save, Lord, or we perish.”

3  And O! when the whirlwind of passion is raging, When sin in our hearts his wild warfare is waging, Then send down Thy grace Thy redeemed to cherish Rebuke the destroyer; “Save, Lord, or we perish.”.