PR6003 0953S6 SONGS OF THE SUBMARINI LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVU?Stt)£ Songs of the Submarine By (klaxon ) 'Published for the Funds of the UNION JACK CLUB EXTENSION LONDON McBRIDE, NAST & CO. 1917 PRINTED IN ENGLANn BY THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 411a HARROW ROAD. LONDON i W. PR ^003 Contents PAGE To D.V.B. 4 The Sailors' View (191 5) 7 Wet Ships II That Blinkin' Cat i? 1797 2 1 After the War 25 Low Visibility 3 1 Hang On 35 To Fritz 39 Overdue 43 To the Scottish Rfgiments TO D.V.B. THEY watch us leaving harbour for the greatest game of all, And wonder if we're coming back across the greedy sea ; They never know the fighting thrill or high adventure's call — I rather think the women folk are better men than we. But I suspect they say of us as out to sea we go, In all our panoply of pride from Orkney to the Nore : " It keeps them quiet, we suppose — they like the work, we know — And soon perhaps they'll tire and play some safer game than War." THE SAILOR'S VIEW The Sailor's View (1916). Too proud to fight ? rm not so sure — our skipper now and then Has lectured to us on patrol on foreign ships and men, And other nation's submarines, when cruising round the Bight ; And 'seems to me — when they begin — the Yankee chaps can fight. Why, if I was in the army (which I ai'nt — and no regrets). And had my pick of Generals, from London's latest pets — To Hannibal and Wellington, to follow whom I chose, I wouldn't think about it long — I'd give the job to those Who fought across a continent for three long years and more (I bet the neutral papers didn't say in 'sixty-four Of Jackson, Sherman, Lee and Grant — " The Yanks can only shout " — That lot was somewhere near the front when pluck was handed out) ; But what the Skipper said was this : " There's only been but one Successful submarine attack before this war begun, And it wasn't on a liner on the easy German plan, But on a well-found man-of-war, and Dixon was the man Who showed us how to do the trick, a tip for me and you, And I'd like to keep the standard up of Dixon and his crew, For they hadn't got a submarine that cost a hundred thou', But a leaky little biscuit-box, and stuck upon her bow, A spar torpedo like a mine, and they and Dixon knew That if they sank the enemy they'd sink the * David,' too. She'd drowned a crew or two before — they dredged her up again, And manned and pushed her off to sea. — My oath, it's pretty plain They had some guts to give away, that tried another trip In a craft they knew was rather more a coffin than a ship ; And they carried out a good attack, and did it very well. As a model for the future, why it beats the books to Hell, A tradition for the U.S.A., and, yes — for England, too ; For they were men with English names, and kin to me and you. And I'd like to claim an ancestor with Dixon when he died At the bottom of the river at the * Housatonic's ' side." 8 WET SHIPS Wet Ships " . . . . And will remain on your Patrol till the 8tb Decem- ber " (Extract from Orders.) Tl HE North-East Wind came armed and shod from the ice-locked Baltic shore, The seas rose up in the track he made, and the rollers raced before ; He sprang on the Wilhelmshaven ships that reeled across the tide. " Do you cross the sea to-night with me ? " the cold North- Easter cried — Along the lines of anchored craft the Admiral's answer flashed, And loud the proud North -Easter laughed, as the second anchors splashed. " By God ! you're right — you German men, with a three-day gale to blow, It is better to wait by your harbour gate than follow where I go ! " Over the Bight to the open sea the great wind sang as he sheered : " I rule — I rule the Northern waste — I speak, and the seas are cleared ; II You nations all whose harbours ring the edge of my Northern sea, At peace or war, when you hear my voice you shall know no Lord but me." Then into the wind in a cloud of foam and sheets of rattling spray, Head to the bleak and breaking seas in dingy black and grey, Taking it every lurch and roll in tons of icy green Came out to her two-year-old patrol — an English submarine. The voice of the wind rose up and howled through squalls of driving white : " You'll know my power, you English craft, before you make the Bight ; I rule — I rule this Northern Sea, that I raise and break to foam. Whom do you call your Overlord that dares me in my home ? Over the crest of a lifting sea in bursting shells of spray. She showed the flash of her rounded side, as over to port she lay, Clanging her answer up the blast that made her wireless sing : *'/ serve the Lord of the Seven Seas. Ha ! Splendour of God — the King!!'' 12 Twenty feet of her bow came out, dripping and smooth it sprang, Over the valley of green below as her stamping engines rang ; Then down she fell till the waters rose to meet her straining rails — ** I serve my King, who sends me here to meet your winter gales.'* (Rank upon rank the seas swept on and broke to let her through, While high above her reeling bridge their shattered remnants flew) ; ^^ If you blow the stars from the sky to-night, your boast in your teeth ril fling, I am your master — Overlord and — Dog of the English Kingf^^ n THAT BLINKIN' CAT That Blinkin' Cat IN the Diving-room, where the O.O.D.* his weary vigil keeps, Battered and scarred with years of strife behind the door she sleeps, Fighting her battles o'er again as ancient warriors may, With bristling fur as she dreams anew of many a noble fray. Savage and Silent, Swift in the onslaught As the great eagle Stoops to the victim ; Guard of the Gangway, Dreadful — prolific, Mother of hundreds. Terrier- Strafer, Messenger-biter. Hail to the guard of the Maidstone's Gangway — Skoal ! Sing of the day the air was full of words like ** Alabaster," When she ate a piece of the Corporal's hand and bit the Quartermaster ; The day she fought with an Airedale dog and drove him back to shore, * O.O.D.— Officer of the day. 17 For the sake of her sixty little ones — she fought — and had some more. Faithful and loval, Guard of the Gangway, Turning the dogs back — Yelping and howling, Biting her masters — Corporals — anyone, Fiercely domestic. Easily queen of — Pugnacious obstetrics — Motherly War. Hail to the terror and pride of the " Maidstone " — Skoal ! ! Sing of the day she won the fray with a new " Pandora " dog, And the Quartermaster shone with pride as he entered in the log: " At 10 p.m. we dowsed our pipes and drew the * Nettle's ' fires, At 10.15 six births aboard — that hliiikin' cat of ours ! 18 1797 1797 OUR brothers of the landward side Are bound by Church and stall, By Councils QEcumenical, By Gothic arches tall ; But we who know the cold grey sea, The salt and flying spray, We praise the Lord in our father's way, In the simple faith of the sea we pray To the God that the winds and waves obey Who sailed on Galilee. We pray as the Flag-Lieutenant prayed. At St. Vincent's cabin door (Twenty sail of the line in view — South-West by South they bore) : " Oh, Lord of Hosts, I praise Thee now, And bow before Thy might. Who has given us fingers and hands to fight, And twenty ships of the line in sight ; Thou knewest. Oh Lord, and placed them right, To leeward, on the bow." 21 AFTER THE WAR After the War THAT far-off day when Peace is signed (and all the papers say : ** A most important bye-election starts at Kew to-day ; We urge our readers one and all to loyally support The Independent Candidate — Count Katzenjammerdordt ") Will change a lot of little things — perhaps we'll get some leave, And hear a yarn of extra pay, which no one will believe ; The salvage ships will hurry out, two thousand wrecks to find, The monuments to Kultur that the Huns have left behind. We'll watch the sweepers put to sea ten million mines to seek, And — Patrol Flotilla Exercise will start within a week ; Someone Big will say to Someone : *' Time for work and time for play (Rub his hands together briskly) We'll commence the work to-day ; They have had their fun and fighting, and they must be getting slack, Stop all leave and start manoeuvres — for the good old times are back." Then destroyers and torpedo-boats and submarines and oilers Will receive a little notice headed " Maintenance of Boilers," 25 " To economise in fuel while the ships are out at sea Each pound of steam will count as two, and every knot as three." We'll have the old manoeuvre Rules to show us what to do. " I rose within two thousand yards and have torpedoed you," *' My counter-claim is obvious — to port you must retire," " I sank you with a Maxim gun just as you rose to fire." Ships will carry navigation lights — " Precautionary Measure," "An infringement of this solemn rule incurs My Lords' Dis- pleasure." Yes, the after- war manoeuvres will be fearful to behold, Not been held since nineteen — (" half a minute, surely you've been told "), Hush, you'll get me into trouble (" it was eighteen months ago— And the whole Grand Fleet was in it — I was there, I ought to know ; * Red Fleet to start from Heligoland and Blue from Udsire Light, To meet in sixty-twenty North and have a morning fight No ship should cross a line between the Jahde and Amrum Bankj But should a German flag be seen {unless of junior rank) No captain can do very wrong who indicates by guns — We wonH have our manoeuvres spoilt by interfering Huns. Perhaps the wording isn't right, perhaps it isn't true, But we've got to have manoeuvres when there's nothing else to do.") 26 And when the Censor fades away and leaves the presses clear For all the ** Truths about the War," by " One who has no fear," And all the " Contract Scandals," by " A Clerk behind the Door," The book I want to see in print is " Humours of the War," Though I fear the other Censor (Morals, Cinemas and Vice) Would expurgate the best of them as being hardly nice ; Still, even with the cream suppressed a volume could be filled With the epigrams of killing and the jokes of being killed, With a preface by the officer we rescued from the wave. When a cloud of steam and lyddite smoke lay o'er the " Bluecher's " grave, Who, as the bowmen fished him out, and passed him aft to dry, Read the name upon their ribbons with a twinkle in his eye And said : " A Westo ship, I think — I guess my luck is in, I'm sick of German substitutes — now for some Plymouth And a picture of the sailor in a certain submarine, Which was diving through the waters where the sweepers hadn't been, And who heard a muffled bumping noise that passed along the side — A noise that many men have heard an instant ere they died ; And broke the silence following the last appalling thud 27 With " Good old ruddy Kaiser ! tiiere's another bloomin dud ! " There's a story, too, of Jutland, or perhaps another show, When the cruisers and destroyers had a meeting with the foe ; And as the range was closing, and they waited for the word, From a sailor at an after gun the following was heard : ** It isn't that that turns me up — 'e's not the only one " — But then the roar of ranging guns — ^the action had begun — And for twenty awful minutes there was undiluted hell. With flame and steam and cordite smoke and high explosive shell. Then as the bugle call rang out, the savage fire to check, The loading numbers wiped their brows and looked around the deck : ** As I was saying," came the voice, " before this row began, I think 'e should 've married 'er — if 'e'd bin 'alf a man." 28 LOW VISIBILITY Low Visibility We sailed from the sand-isles, In Sea Hawk and Dragon^ Over the White Water ^ War -ready all of us. Soon came the sea-mist, Soft was the wind then, Lay there the long-ships. Lifting and falling. Then cried the Captain : " Cold is the sea- fog, '' Weary is waiting-time, *' Wet are the byrnies, " Burnish the breast-plates, " Broadswords and axes ! " Hand zve the horns round, '* Hael to the Dragon I " OUR gentle pirate ancestors from off the Frisian Isles, Kept station where we now patrol so many weary miles : There were no International Laws of Hall or Halleck then, They only knew the simple rule of ** Death to beaten men." And what they judged a lawful prize was any sail they saw From Scarboro' to the sandy isles along the Saxon shore. We differ from our ancestors' conception of a prize, 31 And we cruise about like Agag 'neath Sir Samuel Evans' eyes ; But on one eternal subject we would certainly agree : It's seldom you can see a mile across the Northern sea, For as the misty clouds came down and settled wet and cold, The sodden halliards creaked and strained as to the swell they rolled. Each yellow-bearded pirate knew beyond the veil of white The prize of all the prizes must be passing out of sight ; And drearily they waited while megethlin in a skin Was passed along the benches, and the oars came sliding in ; Then scramasax and battleaxe were polished up anew, And they waited for the fog to lift, the same as me and you ; Though we're waiting on the bottom at the twenty fathom line. We are burnishing torpedoes to a Sunday morning shine. The sailor pauses as he quaffs his tot of Navy rum, And listens to a noise that drowns the circulator's hum : " D'y 'ear those blank propellers, Bill — the blinking female dog— That's Tirpitz in the Indenburg gone past us in the fog \ " 32 HANG ON c Hang On Two o* the morn, and a rising sea, Td like to ease to slow, But we're off on a stunt and pressed for time, so I reckon it's Eastward Ho ! So pick up your skirts and hustle along, old woman, youVe got to go — Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! Up she comes on a big grey sea and winks at the misty moon, Then down the hill like a falling lift, we're due for a beauty soon, And here it comes — she'll be much too late — ^yes, damn it, she's out of tune — Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! You can feel her shake from stem to stern with the crash of her plunging bow. And quiver anew to the thrusting screw, and the booming engines' row. Then rah-rah-rah on a rising note, my oath — ^they're racing now — Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! 35 The streaky water rushes by as the crest of the sea goes past, And you see her hull from the hydroplanes to the heel of her wireless mast Stand out and hang as she leaps the trough to dive at the next one — Blast — ! Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! In the hollow between she stops for breath — then starts her climb anew, ** I can see your guns and wireless mast, old girl, but I can't see you. And you'd better be quick and lift again — she won't, she's diving through " — Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! Lord be thanked, it's my relief — Cheer up, old sport, it's clean ; No, just enough to wash your face — you could hardly call it green — A jolly good seaboat this one is, at least, for a submarine — Look-out, you fool. Hang on ! 36 TO FRITZ To Fritz I WISH that I could be a Hun, to dive about the sea, I wouldn't go for merchantmen, a man-of-war for me ; There are lots of proper targets for attacking, little Fritz, But you seem to like the merchantmen, and blowing them to bits. I suppose it must be easy fruit to get an Iron Cross By strafing sail and cargo ships, but don't you feel the loss Of the wonderful excitement when you face a man-of-war, And tearing past you overhead the big propellers roar ? When you know that it's a case of " May the fish run gdoo and true," For if they don't it's ten to one it's R.I.P. for you ? Although perhaps you can't be blamed — your motives may be pure — You're rather new to submarines — in fact, an amateur ; But we'd like to take your job awhile and show you how it's done, And leave you on the long patrol to wait your brother Hun. You wouldn't like the job, my lad — the motors turning slow, You wouldn't like the winter-time — storm and wind and snow, You'd find it weary waiting, Fritz — unless your faith is strong — Up and down on the long patrol — How long, O Lord, How long ? 39 We don't patrol for merchant ships, there's none but neutrals there, Up and down on the old patrol, you can hear the E-boat's prayer : " Give us a ten-knot breeze, O, Lord, with a clear and blaz- ing sky, And help our eyes at the periscope as the High Sea Fleet goes by." 40 OVERDUE Overdue IN the evening — in the sunset — when the long day dies, Out across the broad Atlantic, where the great seas go, When the Golden Gates are open and the sunlight flies, The fairy Islands drift and fade against the crimson glow. In the evening, when the fiery sun was sinking in the West, St. Brandan and the chosen few went sailing out to sea, To the Westward — to the sunset — to the Golden Isle of rest, The haven of the weary men, the land of Fairie. Is it only in the sunset we may find the Golden Fleece ? Is it only to the Westward that the Fairy land is found ? And those who went away from us and passed from war to peace — Are they looking still for Fairyland the wide world round ? Then as I gazed across the dark the morning answer came — To Eastward stretched the golden sea for many a golden mile, The far horizon joined the sky in dancing lines of flame — And drifting on the seas of dawn, I saw St. Brandan 's Isle. 43 TO THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS To the Scottish Regiments I AND of sorrow — war and weeping, iGranite rock and falling snoWy Where Romance is never sleeping^ Where the fires of freedom glow. Where the spark has never died, be the cause however lost, Be the breath however humble that would fan it to a flame From the shieling — from the castle, did they ever count the cost Ere they went to meet a rebel's death and perished for a name ? While England learnt the Roman tongue and paid her tax to Gaul — The Caledonian tribute clashed along the Roman wall — From East to West the sentinels looked out towards the North ** Amboglanna has sent for aid, For the heather is bright with targe and blade Away to the silvery Forth.'' When the Scottish host looked down and scorned to charge the foe That filed around the fatal hill and crossed the stream below When the flowers of the forest fell and withered in the fight " Shoulder to shoulder around the King, Hear the Claymore whistle and sing Our funeral song to-night.'' 47 The English knew it at Prestonpans — the wall against their backs When down the slope the clansmen came with the long Lochaber axe, The dew on the grass and the morning mist and a roar of charging men — Pipers playing on either flank — ** Steady the volleys^ the leading rank f " The fires were blazing then. And the spark has gone to Flanders, as the Prussian butchers know. For they learnt at Loos and HuUuch from the Caledonian sword The prayer of Anglo-Saxon priests a thousand years ago — '* From the fury of the Northern men, deliver us, O Lord " 48 DATE DUE 1 j CAYLORO PRINTED IN U.S.A. UC SOUTHERN Dcr,ir,MAi i idpary FAC AA 000 605 597 4 .\