Pelorus Jack And His Knack Poem by Stephen Katona

A Risso dolphin called Pelorus Jack,
Developed a life saving knack,
Helping ships to navigate,
In eighteen eighty-eight,
After a captain's wife,
Saved his life,
From a foolish harpooner,
On Brindle Schooner.

He decided to steer
Countless ships as a career.
For twenty-five years,
He took away sailor's fears,
Helping them through French pass,
Where many had died alas.
Riding on each vessels' bow wave,
Boundless joy he gave.

He leapt to entertain,
The famous Mark Twain.
Rudyard Kipling made an odd remark,
Calling him a 'big white-marked shark'.
Sailors would celebrate,
When he met them in Cook Strait.

One day a horrible man on the SS Penguin,
Tried to kill him with a gun.
He refused to steer their flank,
And shortly after the Penguin sank.
Thankfully, harming Jack was banned,
By the good people of New Zealand.

His painting by Cecil King,
Made the world sing,
On the cover of Illustrated London News,
With stories from countless crews.
Edmund Lindop wrote of his tales,
A guardian to so many sails,
Sent by Tangaroa the ocean god,
He saw us as part of his pod.

This hero so legendary,
Kept alive by the Cook Strait ferry,
With his picture as their motif,
Guiding sailors through the reef.
Without his amazing ultrasound,
Many would have drowned.
In Wellington a statue is engraved,
In memory of those he saved.

Oh wonderful Pelorus Jack,
I wish you'd come back!