In Praise of South Coast Seamen

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 February 1916, Page 2

In Praise of South Coast Seamen

When Drake wenl sailing westward, Across tile Spanish main Uits men tliey cuiuu from liide v or' And Dartymoutli and Appledore, And every Devon combe and tor, ilo fight the ships ol Spain, And when the treasure fleets oame out From Cartagena Bay-, They_ sougHt them, Audi fought them, And sailed their craft away With the silver of the Plate ships end the gold of to'anta Fe. AYheti Blake came up from Somerset ' TV break the Dutcumen b might tie sought his men on Aiendip side And where the Severn rolls in pride,' Ami shipped them on the Channel tide To serve his guns audi fight. And when they met the Hollanders A-sailing with the breeze, They faced them, And chased them Across the narrow seas. With a right good English welcome that brought them little ease. / When Nelson kept the long sea ways From Havre to Finisterre, And swept the ocean near and tar, A weary while 'neath sun and star, And met the foe at Trafalgar, And left them broken there; lie shipped his men from Portsmouth Hard, A right south country crew To hoist the saiis And fight the gales And man a seventy-two, And keep the Sag of England .flying on the blue. And now when on The seven seas The battle tumult runs And hurrying coastwise on the t-ide The great grey battle-squadrons ride, Or keep the long watch side by side, Behind the silent* guns; The men from Southern oounties* They man our ships agaiq, Still keeping, Cnsleeping, * Their guard upon the main, Till they drive the foe in ruins, as they drove the ships of Spain. —■C.T.8., in the "Chronicle,"