Walvis gestrand bij Berckhey, 1598

Translation

A huge whale, tossed by the azure gulf,
Which, with the winds forbidding, saw the shores of Katwijk,
Tossed about by the cruel bottomless salt abyss,
Thrown by stormy air with stiff winds,
Thus a fish has washed ashore at Katwijk,
Making known to us the wonder-work of God from the deep of the sea.

Like the terror of the Atlantic, the whale of the deep,
When by wind or its own motion to the shores of the earth
Fifty-five long as measured,
And thirty thick, on the third day of February,
Sixteen hundred minus two was written, but how named
Among the whale kind one is wont to count such.

It is driven, and settles caught upon the dry sand;
Which we give to the fame of Christ, for the people to speak of.
With an astonished heart many an eye looked upon him,
For which many a tongue and mouth had to praise the Lord:
For never enough can one extol Him,
Whose highest worth alone surpasses all praise.

T. Screvelius
I. Matham, sculp.
A°. 1598.