<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">British Merchant Service</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Oh</span>, down by Millwall Basin as I went the other day,</p><p class="line">I met a skipper that I knew, and to him I did say:</p><p class="line">"Now what's the cargo, Captain, that brings you up this way?"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"Oh, I've been up and down (said he) and round about also...</p><p class="line">From Sydney to the Skagerack, and Kiel to Callao...</p><p class="line">With a leaking steam-pipe all the way to Californ-i-o...</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"With pots and pans and ivory fans and every kind of thing,</p><p class="line">Rails and nails and cotton bales, and sewer pipes and string...</p><p class="line">But now I'm through with cargoes, and I'm here to serve the King!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"And if it's sweeping mines (to which my fancy somewhat leans)</p><p class="line">Or hanging out with booby-traps for the skulking submarines,</p><p class="line">I'm here to do my blooming best and give the beggars beans!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"A rough job and a tough job is the best job for me,</p><p class="line">And what or where I don't much care, I'll take what it may be,</p><p class="line">For a tight place is the right place when it's foul weather at sea!"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There's not a port he does n't know from Melbourne to New York;</p><p class="line">He's as hard as a lump of harness beef, and as salt as pickled pork...</p><p class="line">And he'll stand by a wreck in a murdering gale and count it part of his work!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He's the terror of the fo'c's'le when he heals its various ills</p><p class="line">With turpentine and mustard leaves, and poultices and pills...</p><p class="line">But he knows the sea like the palm of his hand, as a shepherd knows the hills.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He'll spin you yarns from dawn to dark -- and half of 'em are true!</p><p class="line">He swears in a score of languages, and maybe talks in two!</p><p class="line">And... he'll lower a boat in a hurricane to save a drowning crew.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">A rough job or a tough job -- he's handled two or three --</p><p class="line">And what or where he won't much care, nor ask what the risk may be ...</p><p class="line">For a tight place is the right place when it's wild weather at sea!</p></div><p class="byline">C. Fox Smith</p></body></html> · Great War