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1892
IT was our war-ship Clampherdown | |
| Would sweep the Channel clean, | |
| Wherefore she kept her hatches close | |
| When the merry Channel chops arose, | |
| To save the bleached Marine. | 5 |
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| She had one bow gun of a hundred ton, | |
| And a great stern-gun beside. | |
| They dipped their noses deep in the sea, | |
| They racked their stays and stanchions free | |
| In the wash of the wind-whipped tide. | 10 |
| |
| It was our war-ship Clampherdown | |
| Fell in with a cruiser light | |
| That carried the dainty Hotchkiss gun | |
| And a pair of heels wherewith to run | |
| From the grip of a close-fought fight. | 15 |
| |
| She opened fire at seven miles— | |
| As ye shoot at a bobbing cork— | |
| And once she fired and twice she fired, | |
| Till the bow-gun drooped like a lily tired | |
| That lolls upon the stalk. | 20 |
| |
| “Captain, the bow-gun melts apace, | |
| “The deck-beams break below, | |
| “’Twere well to rest for an hour or twain, | |
| “And botch the shattered plates again.” | |
| And he answered, “Make it so.” | 25 |
| |
| She opened fire within the mile— | |
| As you shoot at the flying duck— | |
| And the great stern-gun shot fair and true, | |
| With the heave of the ship, to the stainless blue, | |
| And the great stern-turret stuck. | 30 |
| |
| “Captain, the turret fills with steam, | |
| “The feed-pipes burst below— | |
| “You can hear the hiss of the helpless ram, | |
| “You can hear the twisted runners jam.” | |
| And he answered, “Turn and go!” | 35 |
| |
| It was our war-ship Clampherdown, | |
| And grimly did she roll; | |
| Swung round to take the cruiser’s fire | |
| As the White Whale faces the Thresher’s ire | |
| When they war by the frozen Pole. | 40 |
| |
| “Captain, the shells are falling fast, | |
| “And faster still fall we; | |
| “And it is not meet for English stock | |
| “To bide in the heart of an eight-day clock | |
| “The death they cannot see.” | 45 |
| |
| “Lie down, lie down, my bold A. B., | |
| “We drift upon her beam; | |
| “We dare not ram, for she can run: | |
| “And dare ye fire another gun, | |
| “And die in the peeling steam?” | 50 |
| |
| It was our war-ship Clampherdown | |
| That carried an armour-belt; | |
| But fifty feet at stern and bow | |
| Lay bare as the paunch of the purser’s sow, | |
| To the hail of the Nordenfeldt. | 55 |
| |
| “Captain, they lack us through and through; | |
| “The chilled steel bolts are swift! | |
| “We have emptied the bunkers in open sea, | |
| “Their shrapnel bursts where our coal should be.” | |
| And he answered, “Let her drift.” | 60 |
| |
| It was our war-ship Clampherdown, | |
| Swung round upon the tide, | |
| Her two dumb guns glared south and north, | |
| And the blood and the bubbling steam ran forth, | |
| And she ground the cruiser’s side. | 65 |
| |
| “Captain, they cry, the fight is done, | |
| “They bid you send your sword.” | |
| And he answered, “Grapple her stern and bow. | |
| “They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now; | |
| “Out cutlasses and board!” | 70 |
| |
| It was our war-ship Clampherdown | |
| Spewed up four hundred men; | |
| And the scalded stokers yelped delight, | |
| As they rolled in the waist and heard the fight, | |
| Stamp o’er their steel-walled pen. | 75 |
| |
| They cleared the cruiser end to end | |
| From conning-tower to hold. | |
| They fought as they fought in Nelson’s fleet; | |
| They were stripped to the waist, they were bare to the feet, | |
| As it was in the days of old. | 80 |
| |
| It was the sinking Clampherdown | |
| Heaved up her battered side— | |
| And carried a million pounds in steel, | |
| To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel, | |
| And the scour of the Channel tide. | 85 |
| |
| It was the crew of the Clampherdown | |
| Stood out to sweep the sea, | |
| On a cruiser won from an ancient foe, | |
| As it was in the days of long ago, | |
| And as it still shall be! | 90 |
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