Ross-

You've certainly been very busy since I last checked this thread! What a collection!

Another note on "The Red Duster" would be that C. Fox Smith composed a poem of that title as well during World War 1:

The Red Duster (R. N. R. Demobilised)

Oh, some will save their Navy pay and take their ease ashore
And some will sit at an office desk and go to sea no more,
And some will follow the blooming plough and hear the skylark's song,
But oh! it's me for the old Red Duster, for that where I belong.

I'll sign and sail in the Lord knows what — I'll go to Lord knows where —
From Hudson's Bay I'll beat my way to the Straits of old Le Mair;
From Pernambuck to Palembang, and I know I'll not go wrong
So long's I'm under the old Red Duster, for that's where I belong.

I'll take a turn in the Black Sea trade, a trick on the Gulf Ports run,
I'll feel the bite of the Cape Horn cold, and the burn o' the Perim sun;
I'll make the round of the blessed lot from the Gunfleet to Hong-Kong,
When I get back to the old Red Duster — the place where I belong.

I'll ship aboard of the first that comes, and any old thing'll do,
And I don't much care if she's sail or steam, or whether she's old or new,
There'll be never a tramp too foul for me, nor a spounter smell too strong,
So long's I'm under the old Red Duster — for that's where I belong!

For Navy chaps are Navy chaps — good luck to all and one!
And Navy ways are Navy ways — and now the fighting's done,
I'm sick at heart for a shellback's yarn my old-time pals among,
And oh! It's me for the old Red Duster, for that's where I belong!

Notes:

From Ships and Folks, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Elkin Mathews, London, UK, © 1920, p. 58-59. First published in Punch magazine, Volume 157, August 6, 1919, p. 130.

The "Red Duster" is the sailor's slang for the British Merchant Ship Flag.

In this poem, composed shortly after the end of World War 1, the poet is focused on the naval seaman recently demobilized who is determined to return to his former life as a merchant seaman.

First adapted for singing by Bob Zentz (US), as recorded on his Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream, © 2007.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble