on board perished. It is clear that the latter part of the poem, "When,
to the attractions of the busy world," was written between John
Wordsworth's departure from Grasmere and the loss of the 'Abergavenny',
i. e. between September 1800 and February 1805, as there are references
in it both to what his brother did at Grasmere and to his return to
sea:

'Back to the joyless Ocean thou art gone.'

There are some things in the earlier part of the poem that appear to
negative the idea of its having been written in 1800. The opening lines
seem to hint at an experience somewhat distant. He speaks of being
"wont" to do certain things. But, on the other hand, I find an entry in
Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, which leads me to believe that the poem
may have been begun in 1800, and that the first part, ending (as it did
then) with the line:

'While she is travelling through the dreary sea,'

may have been finished before John Wordsworth left Grasmere;
the second part being written afterwards, while he was at sea;
and that this is the explanation of the date given in the editions
of 1815 and 1820, viz. 1802.

Passages occur in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal to the
following effect:

"Monday Morning, 1st September.--We walked in the wood by the lake.
William read 'Joanna' and 'the Firgrove' to Coleridge."