late to fight.

      So Westward ho! for Trinidad and Eastward ho! for Spain,
        And "Ship 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 "Ship 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.

  The Victory led, to her flag it was due,
  Tho' the Téméraires thought themselves Admirals too;
  But Lord Nelson he hailed them with masterful grace:
  "Cap'n Harvey, I'll thank you to keep in your place."

  To begin with we closed the Bucentaure alone,
  An eighty-gun ship and their Admiral's own;
  We raked her but once, and the rest of the day
  Like a hospital hulk on the water she lay.

  To our battering next the Redoutable struck,
  But her sharpshooters gave us the worst of the luck:
  Lord Nelson was wounded, most cruel to tell.
  "They've done for me, Hardy!" he cried as he fell.

{34}

  To the cockpit in silence they carried him past,
  And sad were the looks that were after him cast;
  His face with a kerchief he tried to conceal,
  But we knew him too well from the truck to the keel.

  When the Captain reported a victory won,
  "Thank God!" he kept saying, "my duty I've done."
  At last came the moment to kiss him good-bye,
  And the Captain for once had the salt in his eye.

  "Now anchor, dear Hardy," the Admiral cried;
  But before we could make it he fainted and died.
  All night in the trough of the sea we were tossed,
  And for want of ground-tackle good prizes were lost.

  Then we hauled down the Hag, at the fore it was red,
  And blue at the mizzen was hoisted instead
  By Nelson's famed Captain, the pride of each tar,
  Who fought in the Victory off Cape Trafalgar.

{35}

Northumberland

"The Old and Bold."

  When England sets her banner forth
    And bids her armour shine,
  She'll not forget the famous North,
    The lads of moor and Tyne;
  And when the loving-cup's in hand,
    And Honour leads the cry,
  They know not old Northumberland
    Who'll pass her memory by.

  When Nelson sailed for Trafalgar
    With all his country's best,
  He held them dear as brothers are,
    But one beyond the rest.
  For when the fleet with heroes manned
    To clear the decks began,
  The boast of old Northumberland
    He sent to lead the van.

  Himself by Victory's bulwarks stood
    And cheered to see the sight;
  "That noble fellow Collingwood,
    How bold he goes to fight!"

{36}

  Love, that the league of Ocean spanned;
    Heard him as face to face;
  "What would he give, Northumberland;
    To share our pride of place?"

  The flag that goes the world around
    And flaps on every breeze
  Has never gladdened fairer ground
    Or kinder hearts than these.
  So when the loving-cup's in hand
    And Honour leads the cry,
  They know not old Northumberland
    Who'll pass her memory by.

{37}

For a Trafalgar Cenotaph

  Lover of England, stand awhile and gaze
  With thankful heart, and lips refrained from praise;
  They rest beyond the speech of human pride
  Who served with Nelson and with Nelson died.

{38}

Craven

(MOBILE BAY, 1864)

  Over the turret, shut in his iron-clad tower,
    Craven was conning his ship through smoke and flame;
  Gun to gun he had battered the fort for an hour,
    Now was the time for a charge to end the game.

  There lay the narrowing channel, smooth and grim,
    A hundred deaths beneath it, and never a sign;
  There lay the enemy's ships, and sink or swim
    The flag was flying, and he was head of the line.

  The fleet behind was jamming; the monitor hung
    Beating the stream; the roar for a moment hushed,
  Craven spoke to the pilot; slow she swung;
    Again he spoke, and right for the foe she rushed.

  Into the narrowing channel, between the shore
    And the sunk torpedoes