Before Trafalgar Poem by David Lewis Paget

I was sat in a Tavern in Pompey Town,
Sipping a tipple of rum,
When I watched a Jack make an axe attack,
Chop off his finger and thumb!

I couldn't believe the blood that flowed
From the cut of that rusty blade,
But the barmaid Flo, said ‘You've done it, Joe,
Now look at the mess you've made! '

She cleaned it up with a swill of ale,
Walked off with the finger and thumb,
‘I'll nail these up on the balustrade
With the rest that have been as dumb.'

But Joe sang out when he'd had a drink
‘It's better than being a tar!
I spent three years, under the lash
On His Majesty's Man o' War.'

‘They ‘pressed me when I was still a kid
And treated me like a dog,
I suffered scurvy and couldn't work,
The answer to that, was flog.'

‘They flogged me around the Southern Cape,
They flogged me a-ship and ashore,
Whenever I thought that I might escape
They dragged me onboard for more.'

‘And Cap'n Foggett's abroad tonight
With his cut-throat parcel of rogues,
Impressing the able-bodied men,
They're lining them up in droves.'

‘For Nelson's lying abaft the lee
With barely a half a crew,
He needs more men for the ‘Victory',
And that means me and you! '

‘In every tavern they're moving in,
In every alley and quay,
At first they offer the King's shilling,
To war with the enemy.'

‘But the Frenchies rake with the carronade
That will rip the flesh from your bones,
And the decks run red from the men who bled
Impressed from their wives and homes.'

‘They say he sails on the tide tonight
So they're doing a quick Hot Press,
Even a gen'lman walking late
Won't meet with their gentleness.'

‘A cudgel whack on a squire's head
Then dragged to the bilges, free,
They'll never know ‘til they all wake up
That they're headed on out to sea.'

‘That Nelson's got but a single arm,
He's got but a single eye,
If that's not enough to be alarmed
By God, then I wonder why! '

The Press Gang came to the Tavern door
But couldn't come on inside,
They tried to sell me a Man o' War
But Joe had made me decide.

I took a gulp of Jamaica Rum
And I steeled myself to the task,
‘The Press are waiting outside, ' I cried,
‘Just hand me that rusty axe! '

16 December 2014