C. Fox Smith Sea Poems (PermaThread)

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Mar 08 - 11:14 AM

Bradfordian-

Good to hear from you again!

It's a risky job but someone had to belly up to the bar.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Gulliver
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 11:33 PM

I've also put in the library loan request for Peregrine from an Irish library. They'll let me know when (if!) it's available.

Bradfordian, if yours comes through first, could you let me know, so there won't be a duplication of effort?

ta, Don

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:26 AM

It's a race!

There is another C. Fox Smith novel out there called THE SINGING SANDS but from the PUNCH review it didn't appear to be as interesting. Here's the review:

Singing Sands - Review in Punch Magazine, March 6, 1918, p. 160.

When a novelist is modestly content to label his or her
story as " An Episode," one must of course admit that
criticism is to some extent disarmed. At the same time
I feel bound to observe that any episode that includes in
its tumultuous course a murder, an elopement, a romance,
a desertion, not to specify many other considerable events,
3is in some danger of becoming overgrown. All these things
happened during a little visit that Lyndon Travess, the
heroine of Miss C. Fox SMITH'S new story, Singing Sands
(HODDER AND STOUGHTON), paid to some relations who
lived at this spot of the romantic name. It may save you
from the disillusion that awaited Lyndon and myself to
say at once that Singing Sands the place, not the story
by no means carries out the exquisite promise of its beauti-
ful title. As for the book itself, that I must confess has
put me into some sort of quandary ; I think I should be
inclined to compromise by calling it a good tale badly told.
Miss Fox SMITH'S manner seems at times to combine every
possible exasperation; it is lingering where the matter
demands speed, baffling where it should be clear, and
throughout uncertain, and even amateurish, to an almost
maddening degree, and yet one has further to admit that,
in the words of a celebrated tribute, she "gets there all the
same." Perhaps this is the reward of sincerity; in part it
is certainly due to her feeling for atmosphere. Singing
Sands contains some pen pictures of Canadian landscape
that are suggested with quite wonderful beauty. I am
bound to repeat, however, that in this crowded episode of
Lyndon's visit to her remarkable relations you may find
the places more attractive than the plot, the setting than
the very unsatisfactory set. Which of course, being precisely
what Miss Fox SMITH intended, is only another proof that,
against every handicap, she has done what I knew she
would, and readied her objective.

I do have a copy of her earliest novel CITY OF HOPE (copied by a loyal friend from a library in Tasmania!) which was quite disappointing, from my point of view.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 09:11 PM

Well, thanks to the hard work of one of our Mudcat contacts in the UK, Bradfordian, we are getting access to some C. Fox Smith poems that were published in Punch Magazine (post 1933) but have never been published in her poetry books. Here's one that shares some elements with "The News in Daly's Bar" and "Old Fiddle":

The Rendezvous.

A pub there is of far renown,
A pub that seamen know
In every street of Sailortown
Or sea where they in ships go down
From Clyde to Callao.

And there they say if a man should wait
A twelvemonth and a day
That all his shipmates soon or late
Would surely pass that way.

Both night and noon the door swings wide
To the noisy dockside's din,
Both night and noon with every tide
The sailormen blow in.

They come with talk of ships and men
And lean upon the bar
And yarn and drink and yarn again
Of ports both near and far.

But theirs are ships I never spoke
And trades to me unknown,
And all they see is a grizzled bloke
That drinks his drink alone.

They neither pause nor listen when
From all the oceans home
Between the tides the sailormen
I wait alone for come—

Come in with laughter on their lips
And names I used to know
And speech of men and speech of ships
Forgotten long ago.

No door swings wide to let them through,
No eye but mine can see
That all the shipmates ever I knew
Blow in to drink with me.

Notes:

From PUNCH magazine, Volume 188, Feb 27, 1935, p. 250.

Cicely Fox Smith died April 8th, 1954. I was too young then to offer to buy her a round, Not many other Mudcatters, I dare say, would have even known of her then as a footnote.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Shantyfreak
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 09:19 AM

Just to voice my thanks to Bradfordian for his efforts and to Charlie for all the collation work.
We may never unearth all the lady's work but thanks to contributions from Mudcat readers and others we can get most of them.
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Gulliver
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 12:10 PM

Unfortunately I received word last week that Peregrine in Love is not available from any library in Ireland. The Library Service is now trying the UK for me, but of course this could take some time. Bradfordian got in touch and if there's any way we could share the work I'd be happy to do it. Don

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: nutty
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 12:22 PM

According to COPAC there are als copies in the Oxford University Library and the National Library of Scotland

COPAC

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 05:01 PM

Gulliver-

Bradfordian reports that he has a fragile copy of Peregrine in Love in his hot little hands. He's now planning to photocopy it and send the results to me. It's too fragile to try do on a flat bed scanner.

We will share how the story ends!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 May 08 - 10:40 AM

Further update from our intrepid volunteer Bradfordian:

Brad has now completed his review of Punch magazine from 1931 to 1954 and reports finding about 65 more poems that are not yet in our inventory.

We'll be reviewing those poems one by one, checking to make sure some have not been re-titled, but I think we can safely say that the complete inventory will easily exceed 600 poems.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Saro
Date: 03 May 08 - 03:54 PM

Do you have "AFOOT" published in "The Open Road" compiled by E.V. Lucas, first printed in 1899? If not, I'll send a copy.
Saro

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 May 08 - 04:38 PM

Saro-

Are you sure of the 1899 date?

Here's what we have for "Afoot":

From Wings of the Morning, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Elkin Mathews, London, UK, © 1904, p. 64. Reprinted in Country Days And Country Ways: Trudging Afoot in England, by Cicely Fox Smith, published by F. Lewis, Ltd., Leigh-on-Sea, UK, © 1947, p. 11.

There is a delightful book of poems, edited by E. V. Lucas, entitled The Open Road [Methuen] in which this poem appears along with a note of thanks to Miss Cicely Fox Smith from the editor and that note is dated 1905.

This is one of the few very early poems that the poet ever reprinted in one of her later, and in this case much later, works.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Saro
Date: 04 May 08 - 11:33 AM

Hi Charley, my copy of The Open Road has at the front "First published by Mr Grant Richards, April 1899. It was reprinted at regular intervals, the 36th edition being in 1926.
Saro

Subject: LYR ADD: Queen's Ships, The
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 May 08 - 08:19 AM

Jim and I have now posted most of the additional Punch poems at the Oldpoetry website (under Cicely Fox Smith), bringing the total to over 600 poems. Here's the last poem that Smith published in Punch Magazine, in tribute to England's new queen as well as beloved ships:

From Punch Magazine, Vol. 224, June 17, 1953, p. 715

The Queen's Ships

Queens' ships, Queens' ships…
Gloriana's mariners,
Putting forth to sea
Afire to beard the Spaniard
Wherever he may be…

Hanging on the Plate fleets' flanks
Like hounds upon the deer,
Roving, raiding, voyaging
Year on weary year.

Leaking, reeking, nail-sick,
Rolling home again
With their scurvy-rotten seamen
And the plunder of the Main.

Queens' ships, Queens' ships…
Stately first rates
Of Good Queen Anne's day,
Plunging deep their gilded bows
In the trampled spray –

With their fighting ship's companies
That well the Frenchmen knew
And their brave bewigged admirals
Of the white, red and blues –

Rooke that gained Giblalter,
And gallant Leake also,
Myngs and stout old Shovell
And honest Benbow…

Queens' ships, Queens' ships…
Little ships and great ships,
The seven seas over,
Keeping up the long patrol
From Davis Straits to Dover.
(Franklin in the Arctic,
Gunboats at Rangoon,
Calliope at Apia
Fighting the Typhoon) –

Cruising, sounding searching,
Keeping clear the seas,
Through the little wars of Britain
And the piping times of peace.

Queens' ships, Queens' ships…
Great ships, small ships,
From the wide seas beckoned,
Gather to salute
Elizabeth the Second…

Ships pass, men pass,
The old ways grow strange,
All but the old faith
That knows not any change –

The old love that alters not
Through all the years between
Valiant Tudor cockleshell
And sleek grey submarine…
Love and faith to England
And to England's Queen!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Shantyfreak
Date: 31 May 08 - 06:45 PM

Thanks to the recnt batch of Punch Poems from Bradfordian we now have 624 poems in the Oldpoetry.com collection.
If any of you have access to other old magazines such as The Spectator, Outlook, Country Life, The Times Literary Supplement and The Windsor Magazine and can find any more stuff to add please get in touch. Especially from her days in British Columbia in the early 20th century.
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 May 08 - 09:05 PM

Here's a link to the Oldpoetry website where you can wallow in all 624 poems: click here for website

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jun 08 - 04:09 PM

ALERT: this poem was subsequently proven to have been composed by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood, RN (1868 - 1949) in 1896.
Bradfordian just dug up another CFS poem in Punch Magazine, one which was overlooked because it didn't have her initials. But I have no doubt that she is the composer:

Ship Logs

Ship logs for firewood – take them as you find them,
Broken ends of timber that are good for nothing more,
Lying in the breaker's yard, working days behind them;
You should know the feeling now you've settled down on shore!
Bought your little farm again, left the sea for good now?
Playing at forgetting it, pretending not to care?
Draw the curtains closer, man, and fetch a load of wood now,
Pile the hearth with ship logs and – light them if you dare!

Ship logs for firewood – listen how they chatter,
Whispering excitedly in many tongues of flame,
Gossip from the Seven Seas, things that really matter,
All the ships you ever loved calling you by name;
Plucking at the lashing that so pitilessly bind you,
Dragging at the anchors that you thought could hold their own,
Dressed in rainbow fashion, they have come ashore to find you;
P'r'aps they know it's bad for you to sit and brood alone.

Ship logs for firewood – louder still and brighter,
So the Roaring Forties to the south'ard of St. Paul
Called you in the eighties; you were younger then and lighter,
Raced the upper-yard men once and fairly beat them all;
Hark! Your sailing orders; there's the pennant up there flying
Ninety yards astern of you to track the homeward bound;
Sweethearts on the tow-rope, with a pull there's no denying,
Stamp and go together, draw you home to Plymouth Sound.

Ship logs for firewood – only fit for burning;
Even as they're dying see how cheerily they blaze;
Think of that a minute, and you're in the way of learning
Something that will see you through the dreariest of days!
Get another lorry-load and never have a doubt of them,
Then, with humble gratitude for all they have to give,
Ply the bellows lustily and get their secrets out of them;
Ship logs for firewood will teach you how to live!


From Punch Magazine, Volume 188, December 4, 1935, p. 625.

This philosophical poem was prefaced with the following quote from a shipbreaker's advirtisement:

"For real comfort nothing equals a good fire of old ship logs."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 04:20 PM

Hi,

Reading the lines of Ship Logs a tune presented itself. I might like to sing it one day, but for that I need help with two expressions that don't make sense to me on this side of the North Sea. Would someone explain to me:

* to the south'ard of St. Paul
* Sweethearts on the tow-rope, with a pull there's no denying,
Stamp and go together, draw you home to Plymouth Sound.

Thanks,
                                                                  Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 05:13 PM

Mysha-

My first guess is that "to the south'ard of St. Paul" is a reference to a pile of rocks in the Atlantic known as St. Paul Rocks.

"Sweethearts on the tow-rope, with a pull there's no denying" is a direct reference to the sailor's fancy that when one is homeward bound, the ship is drawn faster by the sailortown gals pulling on an imaginary tow-rope.

"Stamp and go" is a reference to a way that sailors march down the deck with a line to haul up a yardarm or a heavy sail.

It's easy to fit tunes for CFS poems but don't rush it. Try out a number of them and think about the poem. But good luck with your work. I think it's an interesting poem but be warned her poems are addictive. ;~)

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 05:17 PM

Here's the Wikipedia description of St. Peter and Paul Rocks:

"The Saint Peter and Saint Paul Islets, officially the Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo, is an archipelago of the State of Pernambuco, in Brazilian Federation. It is an archipelago of small islands and rocks in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, 870 km from the Fernando de Noronha Island and 1,010 km from the city of Natal on Brazil's northeastern coast. The islets expose serpentinized mantle peridotite on the top of one of largest megamullion of the world, being the unique abyssal mantle exposure above sea level. All of the islets and rocks are designated an environmental protection area. The main economic activity around the islets is tuna fishing."

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Anglogeezer
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 05:31 PM

Mysha,

"So the Roaring Forties to the south'ard of St. Paul Called you in the eighties;"
The Roaring Forties is that area of the Southern Ocean to the south of all the continents, (I know, S.America goes to 56 South) a rough, tough region where the wind blows ever round the globe with nothing to stop it. St Paul?? I guess, if it exists, may be a port or island to the north of the Roaring Forties and has no great significance other than to pad out the line.
The roaring log fire draws his mind back to the 1880's, when as a younger, fitter man, he voyaged around the world.


"Sweethearts on the tow-rope"
When the ship was homeward-bound and going at a cracking pace then the crew would say that it was their sweethearts pulling them home.

regards
Jake
Such was the strength of their affection for one another!!

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 05:52 PM

Hi,

Ah, didn't know either reference; thanks for the help.
But that would mean "the south'ard" was "the southward": Beyond the St. Paul. But the two have the same number of syllalbels, so why did she use that. Is "south'ard" maybe pronounced similar to "southern"?

As for the tune: It's not an existing one, that I know of - some poems just seem to suggest melody and rhythm. I've seen several CFS poems that were too heavy - where you heard only the meter - but this one does have that tune quality.

Thanks,
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 08:41 PM

Mysha-

"the south'ard" was just the way that old-time sailors pronounced "southward." Why they didn't simply say "South" is not to be reasoned out. CFS was a master at channeling sailor slang into her poems. There were many old salt admirers of her verses who could not believe that she wasn't a sailing master herself.

"St. Paul Rock" was a major reference point for sailing ship masters heading south from England for Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, who would like to periodically check their navigation via landmarks, such as isolated islands of known location.

When you do record this one, please send me a copy so we can add it to the CFS Discography.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 10:52 PM

During rough weater "south" could sound like "salt" (this is an example only) so south would no be used in lieu opn south'ard. South'ard, vocally carries easier, farther without the "w" when the "o" in south'ard is a soft "o" rhyming with the "a" in ard. Sailors language was cafefull of not being redundant, being economical in it's use, being as least confusing as possible (lardboard was eventually dropped for a few reasons, one it's being to close sounding at the end to starboard (no the only reason though). Sailors lanaguage being some what a mongrel multi-lingual was honed down by the man before the mast & they went with what ever worded.
I great chapter on Sailor's Langauge is laid out by Horace Beck in his "Folklore & the Sea" pub. Mystic Seaport.

Barry

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 06:08 AM

Hi,

Barry, I'm sorry, but all I have at hand is a concise Oxford dictionary, and it doesn't give a word "ard". Would you have a different example?

Jake, I didn't see your message while I was writing mine. Yes, I understood about the Roarin' Forties and the idea the whole sentenced conveyed. It was just that one bit I wasn't sure of. But you put it very well, which will help forming the imagine in my mind.

Charley, me actually being recorded would probably coincide with calves icedancing on Saint Jude's day. I really meant just "sing". But I'll let you know when either day arrives.


                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Barry Finn
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 06:31 AM

Sorry Mysha, just me being cute. Ard as in south'ard, or as in me being a blow(h)'ard. No one should ever take me too seriously or two literally.

I love your "calves icedancing on St. Jude's day". Where would they do that exactly now that I know when they do it?

Barry

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 10:43 AM

Barry-

Wasn't "The 'Ard" what they called the waterfront area in Plymouth, the old sailortown which is now probably gussied up with "Cutting Edge" retail outlets, shops with cosmetics and undergarments, not to mention cellular phone dealers. Ah, the ports we knew grown strange, the ships we knew laid up an' lost!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 09:28 AM

Getting back to the poem "Ship Logs" I have to confess that the first tune that surfaced for me was "The Dealer." LOL

Anyone want to finish out the chorus?

Know when to stamp an' go,
Know when to run!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: LYR.ADD.: Mobile Bay
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 08:59 PM

Bradfordian has found another CFS poem that had been overlooked in Punch Magazine. I find it interesting in that it combines her interest in traditional shanties with reflecting back on her life:

Mobile Bay

There's a song has gone through my mind all day,
As a song will sometimes do;
It takes me back to the years of youth
And the men and the ways I knew –
To the men I knew in a time that's gone
And a ship of old renown,
When I sailed on a day to Mobile Bay,
Where they roll the cotton down!

I remember the feel of the noonday sun
And the warm wet Indian smells –
Rum and sugar, niggers and mud,
And the dear Lord knows what else:
The shuffle and stamp of the naked feet
On the levees once again:
They all come back from the years that were
To the sound of that old refrain.

"Roll the cotton down, bullies,
Roll the cotton down!"
I am far away from the dingy street
And the drab grey Northern town:
I remember the yarns my shipmates spun
And the great old songs we sung,
The way of a ship at a twelve-knot clip
In the years when the world was young.

It's the width of a world from here, worse luck,
It's the half of my life since then,
And it's ill to tread, so I've heard said,
A trail you've left again;
And I may sail east, or I may sail west,
Where the folks are yellow or brown,
But I'll sail no more to Mobile Bay
Where they roll the cotton down.


From Punch Magazine, Volume 186, February 28, 1934, p. 248.

This poem contains phrases from the traditional stevedore/halliard shanty "Roll the Cotton Down," a version of which the poet collected and published in A Book of Shanties, © 1927.

The poem is prefaced with the note "An Old Song Re-sung."

Here's a link to how I've adapted this poem for singing: Click here!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Shantyfreak
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 10:37 AM

I always think of myself as a lonely voice in the wilderness reading this thread entitled C. Fox Smith Sea POEMS.
Yes the lady's words convert into some fantastic songs and some fine folk have done that but take time to read them (preferably out loud) without the tune and see how magical they can be without the musical straight-jacket.

Words and music can live together
Please don't get me wrong.
But sometimes we need to remember
The difference between poem and song.

http://allpoetry.com/poem/1760101
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 05:46 PM

Jim-

Very true. Not all the poems of our beloved C. Fox Smith lend themselves to singing, nor should they be. Recitation is an equal and venerable art.

Of course, it's hard for me to avoid hearing "Mobile Bay" recited in my mind as I've heard Robert Service poems recited, another strait-jacket!

Let's set this one aside and let it mull some more.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Shantyfreak
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 01:02 PM

Absolutely Charlie.
I never forget that if it hadn't been for Danny, Fitz and Co. wih all those lovely SONGS on the Handspike Gruel and SeaBoot Duff tape (yep tape) all those years ago I may never have heard of the lady and had so much pleasure.
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 04:56 PM

Jim-

Thanks to Danny McLeod, Alan Fitzsimmons and Company we'll both be splashing and thrashing around in this sea of poetry for years!

Oh, and if anyone else is reading this thread, here's another link to the Oldpoetry website where you too can sift through 626 CFS poems: Click here for website!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 03:40 PM

It's time to refresh this thread and provide an update.

The total of poems we've been able to find still stands at 626, as posted on the Oldpoetry Website (link above). There may be a few more miscellaneous poems that were only published in magazines other than Punch that we haven't been able to harvest but I certainly think we've gotten the vast majority of them.

I'm in the final stages of drafting a songbook of the poems I've set to music and recorded, along with some favorites set to music by others. I'll be discussing that soon on a new thread titled Sea Songs of Cicely Fox Smith. I have hopes that I can encourage Bob Zentz and Danny McLeod to edit similar songbooks. In this way we can help fan the flames for a Cicely Fox Smith revival!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 08:31 AM

Hi,

First a few short remarks:
Barry, I fear I made a slight error in translation: It turns out that Dutch and English use the shortend name for different saints. So the proper date in English would be Saint Judith mass.

Shantyfreak, it's exacly that reading aloud that called up the tune. I expect that, over the years, that has been a very common occurence in the tradition, going back to bards reciting and singing the stories of heroes.


And now for the main message:

Charley, the book publication of the poem Ship Logs has been found: It's in Laws of the Navy - and Other Poems, by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood. It's unlikely that he merely collected those poems, even though nobody bothered with saying the man actually wrote them. So, while it's a good poem, it's probably a stranger on this thread.

                                                                                                                                                       Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 09:19 AM

Mysha-

Ship Logs? Interesting.

Could you provide a full reference on that, publisher, date, and page?

Undoubtedly you are correct but we'd like to check it out as well.

And it is a good poem!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 09:37 AM

Mysha-

Not to worry! I just researched the publication information myself, and ordered a used copy of the book: Laws of the Navy - and Other Poems, by Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood, published by John Murray, London, © 1951.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 10:02 AM

Hi,

British Library to the rescue (also at Library of Congress).

Laws of the Navy - and Other Poems
Admiral Ronald Arthur. Hopwood
John Murray: London, 1951.

Do you absolutely need the page? I don't have it, but I could probably ask, if it's essential.

                                                                                                                                                          Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Artful Codger
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 10:42 PM

Per a Google Books snippet view, the index for Punch, v. 189 (1935) shows Hopwood as the author of "Ship Logs". Goggle Books also catalogs several entries for The Laws of the Navy by Hopwood dated 1918. I suspect the 1951 edition is just a reprint.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Mysha
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 08:42 AM

Hi Artful,

Don't be fooled by the little red book Google shows in front of those entries. As far as I can tell, that's really their way of saying they do no have an image of the original publication. Considering these other entries are not from the publisher that published his other poetry, I expect that the little red book entries are really inclusions in other works.

I'm afraid I can't find the index: As is quite usual for me, googlebooks will only give me entries that don't include the words I searched for. But I'm glad you found confirmation. Do you think there are enough snippets to make looking for other unknown CFS poems feasible?

Regarding the 1951 first edition: I see the admiral passed away in 1949. The publication from 1951 is therefor likely to be the collection of his best poems, together with those poems didn't appear in one of his earlier books.

                                                                      Mysha

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 08:49 AM

Artful Codger-

You are correct with regard to an earlier 1918 publication. However, there's an even earlier reference to 1896; the poem originally appeared in the "Army and Navy Gazette", 23 July 1896.

The worthy Admiral Ronald A. Hopwood, RN (1868 - 1949) seems to have been a prolific poet. I've been reviewing some of his other poems which are available on-line and I'll start a page for him at the Oldpoetry Website, now that we know that he died some 50 years ago. If anyone finds a reference to his biography on-line, I'd be very interested.

The total poems in the CFS Anthology has now decreased to a mere 625.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM

Some first printings of Adm. Hopwood's volumes of poetry-
The Secret of Ships, 64 pp., 1918 and reprints- Includes poems "The Secret of Ships, The King's Messengers, The Mystery Ships, The Freak, The Wardens, The Galleon, The Bo'sun's Mate, The Outlaw, HMS Vanguard, The Vale; 10 poems in all.

The Old Way and other poems, 1916, 1917 and later reprint, 64pp.,
includes "The Boatswain's Call, The Oaks of England, and five other naval poems.

The New Navy and Other Poems, 1919, 96pp., poems.

Navis, a Ship. Content not known, may not be poetry. Rare.

The poem,"Th Laws of the Navy," is on line at
Laws of the Navy

"....virtually unknown outside Anglo-American naval officers' circles,..."

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 12:48 PM

"Ship Logs" and other poems by Adm. Hopwood C. B. on line, "The Laws of the Navy":
Ship Logs

Thirty-nine poems in all at this site:
Laws of the Navy

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:26 PM

Q-

Thanks! Some of the on-line poetry books you've noted I've already harvested but others will be interested. "Ship Logs" was the poem that we misattributed to C. Fox Smith above (which now has an alert note) and which we now know is by Admiral Hopwood.

And I've ordered the 1951 anthology, which has a nice introduction by Alfred Noyes, from a used book website.

I'm still hoping to find some biographical info about the Admiral.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:59 PM

The Old Way and Other Poems, Adm. R. A. Hopwood, complete text on line:
http://www.archive.org/stream/oldwayotherpoems00hopwiala/oldwayotherpoems00hopwiala_djvu.txt

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Artful Codger
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 04:25 AM

Clicky for the above. Though the Hopgood stuff should really go in a separate thread.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM

It really should and let's reserve further comments until we do that.

Maybe I'll have a stab at doing it myself by copying and deleting posts.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: GUEST,Taff
Date: 15 Sep 09 - 05:45 PM

CFS is credited with the words to Drake's Breed - with music by Chudleigh Candish (Apollo Club)? Who was Chudleigh Candish and did he write music for any other of CFS poems?

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: bradfordian
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 07:24 AM

Chudleigh wrote "Up with the Jolly Roger Boys" refered to in this thread perhaps his most well known composition.

brad

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: GUEST,taff
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 10:23 AM

was that his real name or a pen name?

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith Sea Poems
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 06:57 PM

Interesting!

Charley Noble