How did the wreck of an obscure US boat gain such a foothold in our lexicon?
Who among us has not felt like the wreck of the Hesperus at some point in our lives? As expressions go, it’s hard to beat. Looking like the wreck of the Hesperus is more than looking a bit shook, or bedraggled. It’s akin to looking like you have just been dragged through a bush backwards – except it’s marginally worse.
His poem tells the tale of a skipper who took his young daughter out to sea in a schooner called the Hesperus. The hubristic captain ignored the advice of an old sailor who warned that a hurricane was coming. When he realised the sailor was right, the skipper tied his daughter to the mast to keep her safe. However, the boat was wrecked when it hit the reef of Norman’s Woe. They all died, and when his daughter’s body was discovered, she was still tied to the mast.
And more than a century after the boat was not wrecked, we are still telling each other that we look like the wreck of the Hesperus. After depositing our emigrants State-side, the wind must have blown the expression back to our shores. But there is an Irish connection with another Hesperus – long before Longfellow dipped his quill in ink and told that story.
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