Half a score o' sailormen that want to sail once more,
Cruising round the waterside with the Peter at the fore!
Half a score o' sailormen the sea will never drown —
Seven days in open boats a-drifting up and down! —
Out to find another ship and sail from London Town!
Half a score o' sailormen broke and on the rocks,
Linking down Commercial Road, tramping round the Docks,
Half a score o' sailormen, torpedoed twice before,
Once was in the Channel chops, once was off the Nore,
Last was in the open sea five hundred mile from shore!
Half a score o' sailormen that want to sail again —
And her cargo's all aboard her, and it's blowing up for rain!
Half a score o' sailormen that won't come home to tea —
For she's dropping down the river with the Duster flying free —
Down the London River on the road to the open sea!
Notes
From RHYMES OF THE RED ENSIGN, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, UK, © 1919, p. 25; this poem was first published in PUNCH magazine, Volume 154, February 6, 1918, p. 92. Also published as "Half a Score o' Sailormen" in WAR VERSE, edited by Frank Foxcroft, published by T. Y. Crowell, New York, US, © 1918, p. 48.
In tribute to the merchant sailors in World War 1 who after being mined or torpedoed went back to sea on the next available ship.
"Peter at the fore" is a reference to the Blue Peter signal flag that was flown to inform sailors ashore that their ship was about to leave.
"Duster" or sometimes "Red Duster" refers to the British Mechant Navy's ensign flown on merchant ships at sea.
Jim Saville and Charley Noble
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