Hi,

First a few short remarks:
Barry, I fear I made a slight error in translation: It turns out that Dutch and English use the shortend name for different saints. So the proper date in English would be Saint Judith mass.

Shantyfreak, it's exacly that reading aloud that called up the tune. I expect that, over the years, that has been a very common occurence in the tradition, going back to bards reciting and singing the stories of heroes.


And now for the main message:

Charley, the book publication of the poem Ship Logs has been found: It's in Laws of the Navy - and Other Poems, by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood. It's unlikely that he merely collected those poems, even though nobody bothered with saying the man actually wrote them. So, while it's a good poem, it's probably a stranger on this thread.

                                                                                                                                                       Mysha