Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/195

Rh 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,

They bid you send your sword."

And he answered, "Grapple her stern and bow.

They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now;

Out cutlasses and board!"

It was our war-ship Clampherdown,

Spewed up four hundred men;

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

Heaved up her battered side—

And carried a million pounds in steel,

To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel,

And the scour of the Channel tide.

It was the crew of the Clampherdown

Stood out to sweep the sea.