Poems: New and Old Part 3

She was nearer, nearer, nearer, they were caught beyond a doubt, But they slipped her, into Orbetello Bay, And the lubbers gave a shout as they paid their cables out, With the guns grinning round them where they lay.

Now Sir Peter was a captain of a famous fighting race, Son and grandson of an admiral was he; And he looked upon the batteries, he looked upon the chase, And he heard the shout that echoed out to sea.

And he called across the decks, "Ay! the cheering might be late If they kept it till the 'Menelaus' runs; Bid the master and his mate heave the lead and lay her straight For the prize lying yonder by the guns."

When the summer moon was setting, into Orbetello Bay Came the 'Menelaus' gliding like a ghost; And her boats were manned in silence, and in silence pulled away, And in silence every gunner took his post.

With a volley from her broadside the citadel she woke, And they hammered back like heroes all the night; But before the morning broke she had vanished through the smoke With her prize upon her quarter grappled tight.

{25}.

It was evening at St. Helen's, in the great and gallant time, And the sky behind the down was flus.h.i.+ng far; And the flags were all a-flutter, and the bells were all a-chime, When the frigate cast her anchor off the bar.

She'd a right fighting company, three hundred men and more, Nine and forty guns in tackle running free; And they cheered her from the sh.o.r.e for her colours at the fore, When the bold 'Menelaus' came from sea.

'She'd a right fighting company, three hundred men and more, Nine and forty guns in tackle running free; And they cheered her from the sh.o.r.e for her colours at the fore, When the bold 'Menelaus' came from sea.'

{26}.

Hawke

In seventeen hundred and fifty nine, When Hawke came swooping from the West, The French King's Admiral with twenty of the line, Was sailing forth, to sack us, out of Brest.

The ports of France were crowded, the quays of France a-hum With thirty thousand soldiers marching to the drum, For bragging time was over and fighting time was come When Hawke came swooping from the West.

'Twas long past noon of a wild November day When Hawke came swooping from the West; He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast.

Down upon the quicksands roaring out of sight Fiercely beat the storm-wind, darkly fell the night, But they took the foe for pilot and the cannon's glare for light When Hawke came swooping from the West.

The Frenchmen turned like a covey down the wind When Hawke came swooping from the West; One he sank with all hands, one he caught and pinned, And the shallows and the storm took the rest.

{27}.

The guns that should have conquered us they rusted on the sh.o.r.e, The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more, For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore When Hawke came swooping from the West.

{28}.

'The Bright Medusa'

(1807).

She's the daughter of the breeze, She's the darling of the seas, And we call her, if you please, the bright 'Medu--sa'; From beneath her bosom bare To the snakes among her hair She's a flash o' golden light, the bright 'Medu--sa'.

When the ensign dips above And the guns are all for love, She's as gentle as a dove, the bright 'Medu--sa'; But when the shot's in rack And her forestay flies the Jack, He's a merry man would slight the bright 'Medu--sa'.

When she got the word to go Up to Monte Video, There she found the river low, the bright 'Medu--sa'; So she tumbled out her guns And a hundred of her sons, And she taught the Dons to fight the bright 'Medu--sa'.

{29}.

When the foeman can be found With the pluck to cross her ground, First she walks him round and round, the bright 'Medu--sa'; Then she rakes him fore and aft Till he's just a jolly raft, And she grabs him like a kite, the bright 'Medu--sa'.

She's the daughter of the breeze, She's the darling of the seas, And you'll call her, if you please, the bright 'Medu--sa'; For till England's sun be set-- And it's not for setting yet-- She shall bear her name by right, the bright 'Medu--sa'.

{30}.

'The Old 'Suberb''

The wind was rising easterly, the morning sky was blue, The Straits before us opened wide and free; We looked towards the Admiral, where high the Peter flew, And all our hearts were dancing like the sea.

"The French are gone to Martinique with four-and-twenty sail!

The Old 'Suberb' is old and foul and slow, But the French are gone to Martinique, and Nelson's on the trail, And where he goes the Old 'Suberb' must go!"

'So Westward ho! for Trinidad and Eastward ho! for Spain, And "s.h.i.+p ahoy!" a hundred times a day; Round the world if need be, and round the world again, With a lame duck lagging all the way!'

The Old 'Suberb' was barnacled and green as gra.s.s below, Her sticks were only fit for stirring grog; The pride of all her mids.h.i.+pmen was silent long ago, And long ago they ceased to heave the log.

{31}.

Four year out from home she was, and ne'er a week in port, And nothing save the guns aboard her bright; But Captain Keats he knew the game, and swore to share the sport, For he never yet came in too late to fight.

'So Westward ho! for Trinidad and Eastward ho! for Spain, And "s.h.i.+p ahoy!" a hundred times a day; Round the world if need be, and round the world again, With a lame duck lagging all the way!'

"Now up, my lads!" the Captain cried, "for sure the case were hard If longest out were first to fall behind.

Aloft, aloft with studding sails, and lash them on the yard, For night and day the Trades are driving blind!"

So all day long and all day long behind the fleet we crept, And how we fretted none but Nelson guessed; But every night the Old 'Superb' she sailed when others slept, Till we ran the French to earth with all the rest!

'Oh, 'twas Westward ho! for Trinidad and Eastward ho! for Spain, And "s.h.i.+p ahoy!" a hundred times a day; Round the world if need be, and round the world again, With a lame duck lagging all the way!'

{32}.

'The Quarter-Gunner's Yarn'

We lay at St. Helen's, and easy she rode With one anchor catted and fresh-water stowed; When the barge came alongside like bullocks we roared, For we knew what we carried with Nelson aboard.

Our Captain was Hardy, the pride of us all, I'll ask for none better when danger shall call; He was hardy by nature and Hardy by name, And soon by his conduct to honour he came.

The third day the Lizard was under our lee, Where the 'Ajax' and 'Thunderer' joined us at sea, But what with foul weather and tacking about, When we sighted the Fleet we were thirteen days out.

The Captains they all came aboard quick enough, But the news that they brought was as heavy as duff; So backward an enemy never was seen, They were harder to come at than Cheeks the Marine.

The lubbers had hare's lugs where seamen have ears, So we stowed all saluting and smothered our cheers, And to humour their stomachs and tempt them to dine, In the offing we showed them but six of the line.

{33}.

One morning the topmen reported below The old 'Agamemnon' escaped from the foe.

Says Nelson: "My lads, there'll be honour for some, For we're sure of a battle now Berry has come."

"Up hammocks!" at last cried the bo'sun at dawn; The guns were cast loose and the tompions drawn; The gunner was bustling the shot racks to fill, And "All hands to quarters!" was piped with a will.

We now saw the enemy bearing ahead, And to East of them Cape Trafalgar it was said, 'Tis a name we remember from father to son, That the days of old England may never be done.