Lyr. Add: A SHIP! A SHIP! A GALLANT SHIP!
Anon.?

A ship! A ship! a gallant ship! the foe is on the main
A ship! a gallant ship, to bear our thunder forth again!
Shall the stripes, and stars, or tricolor, in triumph sweep the sea,
While the flag of Britain waves aloft, the fearless and the free?

Nobly she comes in warlike trim, careering through the wave,
The hope, the home, the citadel of Britain and the brave;
Well may the sailor's heart exult, as he gazes on the sight,
To murmur forth his country's name, and think upon her might!

How proudly does the footstep rise upon the welcome deck,
As if every pace we trod upon a foeman's neck!
Hurrah! hurrah! let mast and yard before the tempest bend;
The sceptre of the deep from us nor storm nor foe shall rend.

Our country's standard floats above, the ocean breeze to greet,
And her thunder sleeps in awful quiet beneath our trampling feet;
But let a foeman fling abroad the banner of his wrath,
And a moment will awake its roar to sweep him from our path!

No foreign tyrant ever through our wooden bulwarks broke;
No British bosom ever quail'd within our walls of oak;
Let banded foes and angry seas around ship conspire,-
To tread our glorious decks would turn the coward's blood to fire!

Out every reef! let plank, and spar, and rigging crack again!
Let a broad belt of snow surround our pathway through the main;
High to the straining topmast sail the British ensign fast-
We may go down, but never yield, and it shall sink the last.

Our country's cause is in our arms, but her love is in our souls,
And by the deep that underneath our bounding vessel rolls-
By heaven above, and earth below- to the death for her we'll fight;
Our Queen and country is the word! and God defend the right!

Latter part of 19th c. No author cited. Included in "Miscellaneous National Songs," pp. 325-327 of pp. 275-328, in T. Dibdin, 1875, "Songs by Charles Dibdin, with a Memoir." Admiralty Edition, ill. George Cruikshank, George Bell and Sons.
Except for these 'Miscellaneous' songs, all are listed by author- C. Dibdin, 1-233; T. Dibdin, 234-256; C. Dibdin, Jun., 257-274.