Oh the chains that bind us
We’ll sure put behind us
As we go forward boys into the fray
Bring her round steady now
All alert on the port bow
Hold your stations be ready for the spray
The captain’s men are looking
Gun crews are booking
Will there be a bet who is fastest today
We see the French sails
Pull the cannon to the rails
Powder sparkers ready for the say
Our boson’s shouting orders
He likes to overlord us
With a strange rhythm in his bark
Every ship we board and take
The whole crew gets a stake
And no man jack today will miss the mark
The camaraderie is lifted
As flags are turned and shifted
To the French line all or nothing on the day
We’ll give it all we’ve got
Whether ready or not
There’s no match for a man of war on display
We’re going in hard and fast
Our colours nailed to the mast
Powder monkeys keeping every crew on top
Lifting on the rising tide
Every cannon full broadside
Check ropes, powder, wadding, shot, non stop
Headlong straight for the cauldron centre
Who else but us would dare enter
Cannon port and starboard blasting
The nakedness of bodies yearning
For searing sparks not to be burning
But fleeting moments are never lasting
A gun crew blown across the deck
Were heaped into a smouldering wreck
That left a gaping hole in the starboard side
I glanced an officer in fine apparel
A French shot must have spun the barrel
Cart wheeling cannon and crew just as they fired
The boson shouted hard all for trying
Next moment he lay there dying
With half his face torn away
Enemy ships now had the range
Grape and shot flew like loose change
Who could load the fastest held the sway
There is little time for sadness
In these created moments of madness
When hesitation could win or lose the day
Long way here from the river Tyne
As bodies doused in watered brine
Make or break themselves or lose their way
Sometimes in the midst of battle
There comes a silent eerie rattle
Like the calm before the storm beginning
Its when trust in comrades unspoken
Brings forth a faith unbroken
A restless wanting feeling of winning
Its times like this that can recall
The excitement of the docks and all
Signing papers on deck as a cabin boy
Gazing astern leaving the north east
Twenty years passed famine and feast
All for the lure of bounty and ship ahoy
Masters shouting rake up aim for the mast
Keep the trim steady hard and fast
She’ll veer off with sails down
There are frigates now on either side
Blasting away nowhere to hide
Some joker shouts two prizes for half a crown
Something’s hit the turret square
Sending daggered splinters everywhere
The rammers poles still there but he is gone
A spare crewman takes up the stint
Grabs the pole eyes grey as flint
His look says he will do as well as the other has done
The deck above has taken a blast
A gaping hole looms between the masts
Half the pinnace is hanging through
With spark and flame so plentiful
Two powder boys were carrying full
A hundred times a day with no to do
The end of this day was not lived to see
Neither site nor sound into eternity
Taking half a gun crew with them as they went
Never was found hide nor hair
Of the crew that toiled there
Just pools of washed down blood where time they spent
There’s bodies littered on the floor
The surgeons covered with blood and gore
Doing the best he can for fear of screaming
All in action pray for a painless death
Not wounded or slow fighting for breath
The reaper calls when ready beyond your scheming
If hell and fury has a vow
Its here with us and present now
Dante’s inferno must be tame compared to this
The shriek and roar of musket and cannon
Fire, dust and smoke brings man on
To know his choosing of destiny alone is his
The port side frigate veers off course
Our starboard battery gives full force
Sixty full shot cannon volleying thunder
The energy spent from such a blast
Turned the keel and shook the mast
Through wind cleared smoke the enemy was rent asunder
The rigging hung out like flails
Two masts were down spent were the sails
She’s going we heard the master shout
As all were seeing from starboard deck
A once fine ship now totalled wreck
The mate shouts look lively, come about
There’s not much worse than seen at sea
Of sailors drowning even the enemy
Pulled down by vortex as the ship sinks
Tangled in rigging tangled in rope
Twice living to be free fear and hope
It’s this part of war and battle that stinks
They fought for what they believed was right
For crown and country give all might
As all on this ship do the same for winning
It’s when the battle is over and done
And silenced are all the guns
Echo’s cloud the mind that is still spinning
There’ll be talk enough when actions ended
With a ration of rum wounds to be mended
The rest of the French are turning now for harbour
The port side frigates drifting loose
We’re turning now to come in close
Grapples, swords and pistols, ready to board her
Swinging over onto the deck
It’s salvageable even though a wreck
We’ve shot and killed over half the crew
The rest have laid down their arms
We’re still on edge though staying calm
It’s clean it up then tow it in for what’s do
There’s twenty men stayed on board
To keep it afloat shipyards pay good reward
They’ve put the prisoners down in the hold
With a hawser lashed a fair wind behind us
We’ll haul it back the ties that bind us
Will make sure every man jack gets his due when sold
Our part of the fleets heading back home
Shore leave for some for me it’s done
Be strange not being on a warship again
Made some good mates lost some as well
Still here though with a tale to tell
Seen sailors jump over the side when battles fogged their brain
Started off as cabin boy raw recruit
Ended as master gunner of good repute
It’s written down on papers in my bag
I could take me a job in any navy
But the lure of the sea and bounty won’t sway me
I’ll be keeping one memento our battle flag
The captains called me into his cabin
Told me how much money I have coming
He says it’s a tidy sum look after it
He poured out two mugs of rum
Then thanked me for all I had done
Even when wounded my post I never left it
I've been shot, splintered, stabbed and bruised
knocked into the sea when cannons rolled loose
you laugh it off when young its all you know
now I am older and wiser too
lost a lot of mates in seas of blue
saw them slip away at night all aglow
Up the channel England in sight
So many memories some wrong some right
In battle as in peace follow the rules
Do the best you can for you and your mates
Keep a calm head evaluate
At times the best advice is offered by fools
We’re docking now in the Thames
I’ll get blind drunk with my friends
In the nearest tavern all battle scarred
They’ll try to talk me into staying
In the morning it’ll be anchors a weighing
Tomorrow there’ll be a frigate up to the shipyards
I’ve said goodbye I’ll not look back
My choice is made in spite of that
Many who signed on with me never made it
We’re heading up the east coast now
A light wind drifting over the bow
It’s tempting to keep this way of life I must admit
Sailing half tack back down the Tyne
Proud on the deck ship of the line
Over twenty years passed since I left
I’ve seen things no man should see
In war, peace and adversity
The boy was forged to a man hard yet deft
I see fine hulled ships still being built
Anchored out beyond the silt
The jetty is in sight where signed I as a boy
Twelve years old the lure of the sea
Now thirty five and back I be
I saved my bounty from every ship we took or destroyed
The captains signed all my papers now
When we dock I’ll seek my ma and da
My brothers, sisters, new nephews, nieces to embrace
I was asked if I wanted to sign again
I’ve seen enough of life to last twenty men
Cradled friends and enemies looked into their dying faces
I’ll seek me out and find a wife
There’ll be lots of children, a new life
We’ll buy a cottage down by the sea
Watching the waves and walk the shore
Forget the times I’ve seen deaths door
It’s over now this is how I want it to be
Off African shores I’ve bathed in the sun
Around cape horn where the devils never done
My grandchildren will hear such wonderful tales
My God has been good to me
Kept me safe whilst out at sea
A good strong wind and blessed be the billowing sails |  |
