StoryTitle("caps", "The Ballad of the \"Clampherdown\"") ?>
Ballad of the Clampherdown," by Rudyard Kipling, is included because
my boys always like it. It needs a great deal of explanation, and few boys
will hold out to the end in learning it. But "it pays." (1865-.)
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Would sweep the Channel clean,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wherefore she kept her hatches close", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When the merry Channel chops arose,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To save the bleached marine.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She had one bow-gun of a hundred ton,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And a great stern-gun beside;", "") ?>
PagePoem(155, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They dipped their noses deep in the sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They racked their stays and stanchions free", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In the wash of the wind-whipped tide.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fell in with a cruiser light", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That carried the dainty Hotchkiss gun", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And a pair o' heels wherewith to run,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "From the grip of a close-fought fight.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She opened fire at seven miles—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As ye shoot at a bobbing cork—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And once she fired and twice she fired,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till the bow-gun drooped like a lily tired", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That lolls upon the stalk.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Captain, the bow-gun melts apace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The deck-beams break below,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Twere well to rest for an hour or twain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And botch the shattered plates again.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And he answered, \"Make it so.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She opened fire within the mile—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As ye shoot at the flying duck—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the great stern-gun shot fair and true,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With the heave of the ship, to the stainless blue,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And the great stern-turret stuck.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Captain, the turret fills with steam,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The feed-pipes burst below—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "You can hear the hiss of helpless ram,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "You can hear the twisted runners jam.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And he answered, \"Turn and go!\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(156, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And grimly did she roll;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Swung round to take the cruiser's fire", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As the White Whale faces the Thresher's ire,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When they war by the frozen Pole.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Captain, the shells are falling fast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And faster still fall we;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And it is not meet for English stock,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To bide in the heart of an eight-day clock,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The death they cannot see.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Lie down, lie down, my bold A.B.,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "We drift upon her beam;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "We dare not ram, for she can run;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And dare ye fire another gun,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And die in the peeling steam?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That carried an armour-belt;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But fifty feet at stern and bow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To the hail of the Nordenfeldt.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Captain, they lack us through and through;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The chilled steel bolts are swift!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "We have emptied the bunkers in open sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Their shrapnel bursts where our coal should be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And he answered, \"Let her drift.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Swung round upon the tide.", "") ?>
PagePoem(157, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Her two dumb guns glared south and north,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the blood and the bubbling steam ran forth,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And she ground the cruiser's side.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Captain, they cry the fight is done,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They bid you send your sword.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he answered, \"Grapple her stern and bow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Out cutlasses and board!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was our war-ship Clampherdown,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Spewed up four hundred men;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the scalded stokers yelped delight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As they rolled in the waist and heard the fight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Stamp o'er their steel-walled pen.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They cleared the cruiser end to end,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "From conning-tower to hold.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They fought as they fought in Nelson's fleet;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They were stripped to the waist, they were bare to the feet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As it was in the days of old.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was the sinking Clampherdown", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Heaved up her battered side—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And carried a million pounds in steel,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And the scour of the Channel tide.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was the crew of the Clampherdown", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Stood out to sweep the sea,", "") ?>
PagePoem(158, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On a cruiser won from an ancient foe,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As it was in the days of long-ago,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And as it still shall be.", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Rudyard Kipling.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>