Lyr Add: Lowestoft Boat by Kipling

Subject: Lyr Add: Lowestoft Boat by Kipling
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 10 Mar 12 - 06:31 PM

The Lowestoft Boat
East Coast Patrols of the War1914-18Sea Warfare

In Lowestoft a boat was laid,
Mark well what I do say!
And she was built for the herring-trade,
But she has gone a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin',
The Lord knows where!

They gave her Government coal to burn,
And a Q.F. gun at bow and stern,
And sent her out a-rovin', etc.

Her skipper was mate of a bucko ship
Which always killed one man per trip,
So he is used to rovin', etc.

Her mate was skipper of a chapel in Wales,
And so he fights in topper and tails--
Religi-ous tho' rovin', etc.

Her engineer is fifty-eight,'
So he's prepared to meet his fate,
Which ain't unlikely rovin', etc.

Her leading-stoker's seventeen,
So he don't know what the Judgments mean,
Unless he cops 'em rovin', etc.

Her cook was chef in the Lost Dogs' Home,
Mark well what I do say!
And I'm sorry for Fritz when they all come
A-rovin', a-rovin', a-roarin' and a-rovin',
Round the North Sea rovin',
The Lord knows where!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lowestoft Boat by Kipling
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Mar 12 - 06:49 PM

http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rkffleet.htm

"The Fringes of the Fleet" by Rudyard Kipling, December, 1915.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lowestoft Boat by Kipling
From: Artful Codger
Date: 10 Mar 12 - 07:07 PM

This poem is from "Fringes of the Fleet", the first series of articles in what became Sea Warfare. The poem was one of four (later five) from that work which Edward Elgar set to music in a song cycle; score available at Google Books.

See this message I posted previously in a "tunes for Kipling verses" thread for further information and links:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=138945#3182880

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lowestoft Boat by Kipling
From: Artful Codger
Date: 10 Mar 12 - 07:42 PM

A correction to my previous post: the words to the later fifth song in the Elgar cycle were penned by Sir Gilbert Parker; they weren't taken from Kipling's "Fringes".

The notes at www.kipling.org.uk (precise link in the referenced message) are particularly informative.