The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #81115   Message #4206167
Posted By: Jim Dixon
28-Jul-24 - 10:07 AM
Thread Name: Songs about Nelson or Wellington
Subject: Lyr Add: NELSON'S GLORIOUS VICTORY AT TRAFALGAR
From Naval Songs and Ballads by C[harles] H[arding] Firth (Navy Records Society, 1908), page 301:


NELSON'S GLORIOUS VICTORY AT TRAFALGAR.

Arise, arise, brave Britons!
Perform your loudest lays,
And join me in a chorus
To sing Britannia's praise.
Once more the hero of the Nile
Did seek to make Britannia smile
With another victory on the file—
O brave Nelson!

October, on the twenty-first,
It being a glorious day,
The combined fleets of France and Spain
Were just off Cadiz Bay;
Their ships in number thirty-three
And Nelson, when he did them see,
Said, 'Twenty then there is for me.'
O brave Nelson!

The signal made for fighting,
Cannon began to roar;
Our ships in number twenty-seven,
We shook the Spanish shore;
And Nelson, on the deck so high,
Aloud unto his men did cry,
'We'll conquer them, my lads, or die.'
O brave Nelson!

He broke their line of battle,
And struck the fatal blow;
He blew some up into the air,
And some he sent below.
But then, with victory on his side,
A fatal ball his life destroyed,
He in the midst of glory died.
O brave Nelson!

When the hero brave was dying,
And with his parting breath,
He pray'd for England's glory
Till the moment of his death.
'Farewell, my lads! My glass is run,
This day must be my setting sun;
But, Providence, thy will be done.'
O brave Nelson!

The battle being over,
Which was a bloody fray,
We twenty of their finest ships
From them did take away.
Now, Bonaparte! boast no more
To land upon our native shore,
Lest you in pieces should be tore,
Through brave Nelson.

May Collingwood's and Hardy's
Like Nelson's fame resound,
And all our force by land and sea
With good success be crowned;
May Britain's trade and wealth increase,
And wars and tumults ever cease,
And may we have a lasting peace,
Through brave Nelson.