How a man may sail from a heathen coast to be robbed in a Christian port; How a man may be robbed in Christian port while Three Great Captains there Shall dip their flag to a slaver's rag-to show that his trade is fair!" 111 THE BALLAD OF THE "CLAMPHERDOWN" It was our war-ship Clampherdown She had one bow-gun of a hundred ton, They dipped their noses deep in the sea, It was our war-ship Clampherdown, That carried the dainty Hotchkiss gun She opened fire at seven miles As ye shoot at a bobbing cork- " Captain, the bow-gun melts apace, The deck-beams break below, 'Twere well to rest for an hour or twain, And botch the shattered plates again." And he answered, "Make it so." She opened fire within the mile As ye shoot at the flying duck And the great stern-gun shot fair and true, With the heave of the ship, to the stainless blue, And the great stern-turret stuck. Captain, the turret fills with steam, You can hear the hiss of the helpless ram, It was our war-ship Clampherdown, Swung round to take the cruiser's fire As the White Whale faces the Thresher's ire When they war by the frozen Pole. Captain, the shells are falling fast, And faster still fall we; And it is not meet for English stock To bide in the heart of an eight-day clock The death they cannot see." "Lie down, lie down, my bold A.B., And die in the peeling steam?” It was our war-ship Clampherdown Lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow, Captain, they hack us through and through; We have emptied the bunkers in open sea, It was our war-ship Clampherdown, Swung round upon the tide, Her two dumb guns glared south and north, And the blood and the bubbling steam ran forth, And she ground the cruiser's side. Captain, they cry, the fight is done, And he answered, "Grapple her stern and bow. it now; Out cutlasses and board!" It was our war-ship Clampherdown And the scalded stokers yelped delight, As they rolled in the waist and heard the fight Stamp o'er their steel-walled pen. They cleared the cruiser end to end, From conning-tower to hold. They fought as they fought in Nelson's fleet; They were stripped to the waist, they were bare to the feet, As it was in the days of old. It was the sinking Clampherdown It was the crew of the Clampherdown On a cruiser won from an ancient foe, |