I had asked this at r.m.folk a while back & was reasonably answered that the verse is taken as a whole...

Every time I gaze behind the screws Makes me long for St Peter's shoes I'd walk on down that silver lane And take my love in my arms again

If he had Peter's ability to walk on water, he could walk the moon-flourescing wake of the ship back to home.

The wish comes up repetedly in the song.

(He didn't like the navy, it seems. Well, that's just the song narrator - Cyril, himself, hated it.)