The Freak

Oh, His Majesty's ships they had timbers of teak
And a Jack at the bows and a flag at the peak;
They would die for their King as he sat on his throne.
But their souls were immortal, and, when they had flown
They would rest for a while where you'd seek them in vain
Till the day they were summoned to service again.

Now a spectre came sailing at sunset one day
To the base where the cruisers and battleships lay;
As she beat into harbour her sails never shook
And the battleships strained at their cables to look;
Such a droll little spirit from counter to beak
That the cruisers cried out, "Oh, my dear, what a freak!"

Now the ships of the squadrons could never mistake
Any fashion they'd worn under Nelson or Drake,
From a ship of the line to a galley or brig,
But they'd never encountered the visitor's rig;
And she sang an old chantey that nobody knew,
"Oh, the sumer's icumen, sing Ihude, cuccu!"

Then the great Queen Elizabeth hailed from the van,
And she twinkled as much as a battleship can:
"They are free to the sea who establish their right.
Tell us what was your service and where did you fight?"
"Oh, I'll prove you my service," the stranger she cried
"If you'll show me the way to the Banks of the Clyde.

"I'd the luck to be launched by an English Princess,
So I wear in her honour my christening dress;
And I fought for my King as he sat on his throne
In the greatest sea battle that ever was known,
And a flagon was drained, as the hurricane burst.
To the health of His Majesty Edward the First.

"In our van there went Tiptoft, a noble of note,
And 'Sir Robert,' I mind me, we called him afloat,
While the enemy's flag on that glorious day
Carried Charles, Count of Valois, from over the way;
And we'd moored an old hulk in the Channel, you see.
For to mark us the place where the battle should be.

"Then we blew on our trumpets and beat on our gongs,
And we went at it lustily, hammer and tongs,
With a 'Hi' for our cry, and 'Long life to our Prince,'
There was never a battle so terrible since,
For the arrows and stones were a caution to see,
Oh, we fought to some purpose in twelve ninety-three!"

Then the giants of Jutland, suspiciously grave,
Why, they up with their anchors and escort they gave,
And they showed her the road to the Banks of the Clyde;
But as soon as the squadrons got into their stride
You could hear pretty clear in the swirl of each screw:
"Oh, the sumer's icumen, sing Ihude, cuccu!"

And the sun rose in splendour at Greenock next day
On a marvellous cruiser in natal array;
Reincarnate her soul, as the sound of her name
With a prayer from the lips of her godmother came,
And her heart beat as English in steel as in teak,
For a Princess of England was launching — a Freak.

Notes:

From The Secret of the Ships, by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood, published by John Murray, London, UK, © 1918, p. 21.

Notes from the poet:

"The battle described by the Freak to the Grand Fleet is evidently that referred to by Naval Historians as having taken place on the 14th April, 1293, and was the outcome
of the following incidents:

Two English sailors landing in Normandy had been attacked by the crews of Norman ships.

Reprisals followed alternately, until it was ultimately decided to fight the matter out in mid-channel at a spot previously marked by an anchored hulk.

The English, with Irish and Dutch support. are said to have numbered about 60; the Normans, assisted by French, Flamands, and Genoese, 240.

While these figures are extremely doubtful, it is quite
certain that the Freak was on the winning side."

Charley Noble