I fear thee ancient Mariner
I fear thy skinny hand
And thou art long and lank and brown
As is the ribbed sea-sand.

This famous poem tells of the misfortunes of the seaman who shot an albatross to the detriment of his ship and fellow sailors.

It was probably inspired by a conversation between Coleridge and William Wordsworth who had recently read George Shelvocke's A Voyage Round the World. Shelvocke writes of an incident when his second in command shot an albatross which had been following the ship for several days. The ship, called the Speedwell, was later lost at Juan Fernandez Island.

Others attribute the poem to a dream which Coleridge's friend, George Cruikshank experienced after reading Thomas James's Strange and Dangerous Voyage. This account refers to an old man who had been shipwrecked and survived by angels piloting the ship. Some say that the old man who speaks to the Wedding Guest at the start of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner may have been Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the Bounty and later disappeared. Coleridge would almost certainly have heard the rumour that Christian had removed to England, but neither story can be proved.