05/31/2026
Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819-March 26, 1892) was known for incorporating realism in his writings. His sonnet Patrolling Barnegat (sometimes printed as Patroling Barnegat) describes nature at its most violent and threatening. The owners of Double Trouble, from the Giberson family in the 1800s to the Crabbe family in the 1900s, were well known for their sailing prowess on Barnegat Bay. Whitman’s home in Camden is now a New Jersey State Historic Site.
Patrolling Barnegat
By Walt Whitman
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running,
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there, milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting –
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
New Jersey State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites
