The next development in the story of this song is could not, of course, have been predicted.

At some point its "dark and rolling eye" chorus was attached to a very different and entirely surreal bawdy song, associated especially with the Royal Navy, called variously "The Sailors' Wives," "The Whores of Pompey," "The Captain's Ball," etc.

Even more surprising was the appearance in 1941 of a sanitized version
of the latter sung by the very popular English singer Elsie Carlisle. This was called "She Had Those Dark and Dreamy Eyes," and it was written by Jimmy Hughes and Ted Douglas. It modified the chorus to:

She had those dark and dreamy eyes,
And she sang a song of love, sir.
She was one of those flash-eyed girls,
One of the old brigade.

The chorus's tune remained nearly the same as in "The Fireship," though that of the stanzas was different.

A year earlier in 1940 Jimmy Hughes had been responsible, with Frank Lake, for the popular, also bowdlerized, version of "Bless 'Em All!"