The Figureheads

THE most noble Duke of Brunswick was a figure proud and trim,
For the Captain of the Fo'c'sle did his valeting for him,
Smoothed his hat of royal purple, brushed his coat of gold and red,
Till Lord Howe himself would marvel at the Brunswick's figurehead.

They were smart on board the Brunswick, and a merry-hearted crew,
Who would fight till further orders, as a happy ship should do,
And would dance to any measure, if his Lordship called the tune;
So they followed the Queen Charlotte on the famous First of June.

But the enemy was crafty, and his line was ordered so
That the gap was blocked completely where the Brunswick tried to go.
But she knew, in less than no time, she'd have something like a fight,
For her starboard bower anchor hooked the Vengeur hard and tight.

"Shall I clear her?" cried the Master. Captain Harvey made reply,
"As we've got her, we will keep her!" Then the shot began to fly,
And the range was less than inches, e'er the lower guns could play;
So the Brunswicks, double-shotted, blew their lower ports away.

They were busy in the Brunswick, for there wasn't room to miss,
And their decks were blown to splinters, and the flames began to hiss,
While the bullets ripped the fo'c'sle but they only laughed at that,
Till a chain-shot from the Vengeur got the Duke of Brunswick's hat!

Then a solemn deputation from the Brunswick's fo'c'sle came
With the news to Captain Harvey: " Sir! Your Honour! 'tis for shame,
And in no ways right or proper, for our Royal Duke to go
With his noble head uncovered in the face of any foe."

At a word, the Captain's coxswain fetched a hat superbly laced,
Which the captain of the fo'c'sle on the oaken temples placed,
Nailed secure, and passed a lashing fit to stand the hardest strain,
And the happy deputation scampered off to fight again!

Ten o'clock the battle started; close on two before they'd done,
With the gallant Vengeur sinking and the Brunswick's mizen gone;
But the noble Duke came through it, like a fighter born and bred,
With his hand upon his sword-hilt and his hat upon his head.

You may search the North Seas over till you find the British Fleet,
And at first, perhaps, you'll think that figureheads are obsolete;
But the sailor-folk can see them where they always used to be,
Full of strength and mystic meaning, gazing far and out to sea !

In the hazy northern twilight, through the spray that drives and stings,
Swift the famous phantoms gather, shades of mighty Queens and Kings,
Nymphs and Shepherds, Gods and Heroes, back again to guide and guard,
For they've left their battered bodies in the old ship-breaking yard.

Home, to fill the vacant places, for the jack-staff's down and stow'd,
And the old old work's beginning down the long-remembered road.
Well content, they form and follow in their leader's whirling wake,
As the bow wave springs to greet them, and for old acquaintance' sake.

Though their thrones be strangely fashioned, they can tell with half an eye
That there's nothing changed that matters when the shot begin to fly;
For by turret, flat, or furnace, with a chuckle now and then,
Fight the lineal descendants of the Brunswick's fo'c'sle men.

Notes:

From THE OLD WAYS AND OTHER POEMS, by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood, published by John Murray, London, UK, © 1916 , p. 49.

Describes an incident which took place on board the H.M.S. "Brunswick" during the Battle of the 1st of June, 1794.

Dedicated to "The Ship's Companies."

Charley Noble