A QUAKER AT SEA
rendered into song (with guitar accompaniment) by Peter Wallis
1. My name is Edward Oscar Wallis, I’m sixteen, off to sea
The year is nineteen thirty seven lord knows what waits for me…
I’ve packed my sea chest, canvas kitbag, Bible, sea boots, socks
A Train to Kings Cross, then a taxi to the Royal Albert Dock
To board SS Malancha, weighing fifteen thousand tonnes
An apprentice whose adventure’s just begun (audience repeats these last two lines of each verse)
... Forties, Fastnet, Shannon, Biscay, Cromarty, German Bight,
Thames, Dover, Plymouth, Portland, Dogger, Lundy, Wight ...
2. Around the Lizard, Bay of Biscay, straight into a gale
Sea sick - in the forward locker - they left me for a day
Rolling pitching, plunging, pounding, swell and seas and spray,
In the f’o’c’sle, dark and wretched, my sickness cured that day
Sound the bilge boy, whip the lanyard, man the windlass then
Tie a bowline on a bight, and splice the end.
... Binnacle, barnacle, funnel, gunnel, staithes and hatches too
Bosun, carpenter, first mate, second mate, welcome to the crew!
3. The Captain drinks a pint of seawater swallows it down whole
A daily pint holds all the minerals in the whole wide world
Says the Captain: clean the brass boy - compass handrails, knobs and bell
And the engine room telegraph, clinometer, chronometer… and the binnacle as well
I used much too much brasso so my brasso covered it quite
And the Captain’s jacket turned from black to white
Stupid, idiot, ignorant, bastard, obvious, greenhorn, right
Go ask the engineer - for a long weight – go now, get out of sight
4. An early stop was in Ceylon, the port of Trimlocee
We spun the wheel, let go the anchor, rattling to the sea
It’s a circular lagoon, volcanic, drops to fathomless depths below
And the hand brake failed the winch glowed hot – had to let the anchor go
Through Suez down to Durban, Cape Town, Boston, Norfolk, Maine
From the Minches to Murmansk and back again
... Rice, girders, Belgians, bananas, rubber, jute, and tea
Gunnies, dunnage, a consignment of odd shoes, making out to sea
5. The officer on watch, the Crows nest….. on the look out, me
Ding for starboard, ding ding for port, - I love to scan the sea
Saw fulmar, gannet, guilimott, penguin, petrel, artic turn,
An albatross floating, dipping, diving, gliding off our stern
My other passion, navigation, the sextant quite an art
Our position to be plotted on the chart
... Latitude, longitude, planets, moon, sunrise, sunset, stars
Variation, deviation, parallax, azimuth, ecliptic, zenith, arc
6. On one occasion, an Engineer, drunk, was taken down a peg
The crew shaved half his hair, polished the bald half of his head
On another the Bosun, Mr Flowers - Plant Pot behind his back
Was giving signals for the winch man standing by the hatch
It was plainly not his job, and suddenly the cargo hook was there
He was hoisted by the belt into mid air
... Cranes, wharves, stanchions, barges, tugs and godowns, quays
Channels, buoys, tugs, and pilots - guide you out to sea
7. The laundry was a mystery, I never found out where
The steward took our clothes – but they were washed and pressed for wear
Civvies to go ashore, but when on duty - just plain black
Epaulettes indicate rank, brass buttons, gold braid, officer’s cap
Come and see my new suit - made to measure – is it a hit?
Made to measure? – you should have had it made to fit!
... Dungarees, whites, black serge, topi, doeskin, white knee socks
Oil skins, so’wester, gum boots, waterproof leggings, deck shoes, ducks
8. In 39 the war broke out - of course I would not fight
I joined….. H.M.H.S. Aba when the war was at its height,
With our red cross and our doctors a neutral hospital ship
But one night a stick of bombs was dropped from an aircraft – we were hit
Right through matrons cabin – she stayed sleeping on her bunk
Blew a plate out – it’s a miracle we weren’t sunk
... Benghazi, Tobruk, Haifa, Mersah Matruh, Naples Bay
Salerno, Syracuse, El Alemein, - the names resonate to this day
9. My sea faring days over, a new life lies ahead of me
And people often ask me: Are you glad you went to sea?
Did you willingly do such a thing – It amazes me you see
And I think of all the stories – all the wealth it gave to me
Am I glad I went to sea? Well, I give to you my word
My answer? I’d not have missed it for the world
Am I glad I went to sea? Well, I give to you my word
My answer? I’d not have missed it for the world