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Bill Adams

I lived from 1879-1953. I was from the United States, and am in the Americas category.

Bill Adams (Bertram Martin Adams) was a British-born sailor poet later based in California, who sailed on square-riggers in the last years of commercial sail at the end of the 19th century. Adams's autobiography, published in 1937, is titled SHIPS AND WOMEN. His work is similar to other sailor poets such as Harry Kemp and Burt Franklin Jenness. Adams served his four-year apprenticeship aboard the four-masted barque "Silberhorn" and was appointed second mate for the return home only to be sent ashore with chronic asthma.

His books include:

FENCELESS MEADOWS: Tales of the Sea (p. 1921) Poetry & short stories

WIND IN THE TOPSAILS: Poems of the Sea (p. 1931)

SHIPS AND WOMEN ( p. 1937) Autobiography

Many of his poems were previously published in magazines such as ADVENTURE, THE OUTLOOK, PICTORIAL REVIEW, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, SHORT STORIES, McCLURE'S, PREMIER, LONDON, NEPTUNE'S LOG, HEARST'S INTERNATIOAL, and BLUE PETER.

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  • Bound Away
    A three-skysail yarder with her hatches battened down,
    And the grey sky up above her, and the Mersey's muddy brown
    20 lines
  • All's Well
    There's an ache in my heart, and I can't tell why,
    Something to do with the sea and sky,
    18 lines, 1 comment
  • I've Been Dreamin'
    I've been dreamin',
    Of a randy, dandy clipper with her tops'ls set,
    50 lines
  • Home Round The Horn
    It's blowing up squally, it's piping like hell,
    And the packet she rolls till she tinkles her bell;
    29 lines
  • Sea Cook
    There ain't no "Tradesman's Entrance" wrote up above his door,
    Like you sees on stylish houses on the stylish streets ashore,
    25 lines
  • Stowaway
    I crossed the gangway in the winter's raining,
    Late in the night, when it was dreary dark;
    39 lines
  • Shore Roads Of April
    What do I see and hear of an April morning?
    Many a ridge and furrow, headland and bay,
    24 lines
  • Packet Rat
    'Ow would you like to be a packet rat,
    Wiv no place anyw'ere to 'ang your 'at?
    35 lines
  • Johnnie Chanteyman
    Johnnie Parrot, Johnnie Parrot, I'll not hear again
    That old voice of yours a-ringin' down the windy rain,
    39 lines
  • Billy Peg-leg's Fiddle
    I've a pal called Billy Peg-leg, with one leg a wood leg,
    And Billy' he's a ship's cook and lives upon the sea;
    40 lines
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