| George Herbert Clarke, ed. (1873–1953). A Treasury of War Poetry. 1917. |
| |
| 118. British Merchant Service |
| | | By C. Fox Smith |
| |
| |
| OH, down by Millwall Basin as I went the other day, | |
| I met a skipper that I knew, and to him I did say: | |
| “Now what’s the cargo, Captain, that brings you up this way?” | |
| |
| Oh, I’ve been up and down (said he) and round about also … | |
| From Sydney to the Skagerack, and Kiel to Callao … | 5 |
| With a leaking steam-pipe all the way to Cali-forn-i-o … | |
| |
| “With pots and pans and ivory fans and every kind of thing, | |
| Rails and nails and cotton bales, and sewer pipes and string … | |
| But now I’m through with cargoes, and I’m here to serve the King! | |
| |
| “And if it’s sweeping mines (to which my fancy somewhat leans) | 10 |
| Or hanging out with booby-traps for the skulking submarines, | |
| I’m here to do my blooming best and give the beggars beans! | |
| |
| “A rough job and a tough job is the best job for me, | |
| And what or where I don’t much care, I’ll take what it may be, | |
For a tight place is the right place when it’s foul weather at sea!”
. . . . . . | 15 |
| |
| There’s not a port he does n’t know from Melbourne to New York; | |
| He’s as hard as a lump of harness beef, and as salt as pickled pork … | |
| And he’ll stand by a wreck in a murdering gale and count it part of his work! | |
| |
| He’s the terror of the fo’c’s’le when he heals its various ills | |
| With turpentine and mustard leaves, and poultices and pills … | 20 |
| But he knows the sea like the palm of his hand, as a shepherd knows the hills. | |
| |
| He’ll spin you yarns from dawn to dark—and half of ’em are true! | |
| He swears in a score of languages, and maybe talks in two! | |
| And … he’ll lower a boat in a hurricane to save a drowning crew. | |
| |
| A rough job or a tough job—he’s handled two or three— | 25 |
| And what or where he won’t much care, nor ask what the risk may be … | |
| For a tight place is the right place when it’s wild weather at sea! | |
| |
|
|
|
