<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Off Heligoland</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Ghostly</span> ships in a ghostly sea,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">(Here's to Drake in the Spanish main!)</p><p class="line">Hark to the turbines, running free,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Oil-cups full and the orders plain.</p><p class="line">Plunging into the misty night,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Surging into the rolling brine,</p><p class="line">Never a word, and never a light,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">-- This for England that love of mine!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Look! a gleam on the starboard bow,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">(Here's to the Fighting Temeraire!)</p><p class="line">Quartermaster be ready now,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Two points over, and keep her there.</p><p class="line">Ghostly ships -- let the foemen grieve.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Yon's the Admiral tight and trim,</p><p class="line">And one more -- with an empty sleeve --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Standing a little aft of him!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Slender, young in a coat of blue,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">(Here's to the Agamemnon's pride!)</p><p class="line">Out of the mists that long he knew,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Out of the Victory, where he died,</p><p class="line">Here to the battle-front he came.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">See, he smiles in his gallant way!</p><p class="line">Ghostly ships in a ghostly game,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Roaring guns on a ghostly day!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There in his white silk smalls he stands,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">(Here's to Nelson, with three times three!)</p><p class="line">Coming out of the misty lands</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Far, far over the misty sea.</p><p class="line">Now the Foe is a crippled wreck,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Limping out of the deadly fight.</p><p class="line">Smiling yond on the quarterdeck</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Stands the Spirit, all silver-bright.</p></div><p class="byline">-- J. E. Middleton.</p></body></html> · Great War