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The Open Boat


'When this 'ere war is done (says Dan) an' all the fighting's through,
There's some will pal with Fritz again as they've been used to do . . .
But not me (says Dan the sailorman), not me (says he) —
Lord knows it's nippy in an open boat on winter nights at sea!'

'When the last battle's lost and won, an' won or lost the game,
There 's some'll think no 'arm to drink with square-'eads just the same,
But not me (says Dan the sailorman), an' if you ask me why,
Lord knows it's thirsty in an open boat when the water breaker's dry.'

'When all the bloomin' mines are swep' an' ships are sunk no more,
There's some'll set 'em down to eat with Germans as before;
But not me (says Dan the sailorman), not me, for one, —
Lord knows it's 'ungry in an open boat when the last biscuit's done.'

'When peace is signed an' treaties made an' trade begins again,
There's some'll shake a German's 'and an' never see the stain,
But not me (says Dan the sailorman), not me, as God's on high, —
Lord knows it's bitter in an open boat to see your shipmates die . . .'

Notes

From RHYMES OF THE RED ENSIGN, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, UK, © 1919, p. 21-22; First published in Punch Magazine, Volume 154, February 20, 1918, p. 126.

"Water breaker" is a nautical term for a small water cask in a lifeboat.

"Square-'eads" in this instance is sailor slang for Germans.

The header graphic "Worsening Weather" is from a World War 2 painting of a lifeboat crew taking in sail as wind picks up done by maritime artist Anton Otto Fischer, 1942.

Jim Saville

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Comments


  • January 31, 2006
    Edit | Reply
    that is the coolest thing ever


  • Charley Noble Moderators member
    January 15, 2006
    Edit | Reply
    The bitter feelings expressed in this poem by Dan against German sailors shows how war brutalizes all it impacts. Many of Dan's former shipmates would have been German sailors, and because of the horrors of war at sea "they" will never be forgiven. As an English woman who knew and respected many sailors, CFS identified with English sailors and their strong feelings.

    This is the same woman who was highly critical of Great Britain's role in the Boer War in South Africa 20 years before.

    Charley Noble