PULL FOR THE SHORE (THE LIFEBOAT)
P.P. Bliss

Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand!
See o'er the foaming billows fair Haven's land.
Drear was the voyage, sailor, now almost o'er;
Safe within the lifeboat, sailor, pull for the shore.

Chorus:-
        Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore!
        Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar;
        Safe in the lifeboat, sailor, cling to self no more;
        Leave the poor old stranded wreck and pull for the shore.

Trust in the life-boat, sailor; all else will fail.
Stronger the surges dash and fiercer the gale,
Heed not the stormy winds, though loudly they roar;
Watch the "bright and morning star," and pull for the shore.

Bright gleams the morning, sailor, uplift the eye;
Clouds and darkness disappearing, glory is nigh;
Safe in the lifeboat, sailor, sing evermore,
"Glory, glory, hallelujah!" Pull for the shore.

Sung by Liz Gillingham and the chorus. Used in the show to mark the importance of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to all who go to sea, its origins are in the 19th century evangelical movement. "Moody and Sankey" evenings were still a feature of church life when I was growing up in Scotland fifty years ago. The lively tunes and rich metaphorical imagery were in sharp contrast to the usually sober material of the regular church hymnal, and this presumably accounted for their continued popularity.

It's not in the DT, but there's a Mudcat thread thread.cfm?threadid=10721 with the same lyrics listed by Joe Offer.

Ross