THE LAST REUNION - SHIPS

[Administrator]

THE LAST REUNION - SHIPS

You’ve heard of Para Handy and his Puffer - Vital Spark,
Of course you know of Noah and the grounding of his Ark,
All vessels have a life and time - with natural will and ways.
Rolling and a`pitching when steaming through the waves.

You may ask the veterans in Liverpool’s fair city,
Gathered here in final year - to a band’s last ditty,
Time has gone but memories long while shell-backs are alive,
They’ll speak of ships on danger trips that helped them to survive.

Some craft faced mortality in Western Ocean’s roar,
Waiting death from U-boats in that cruel and mighty war,
`Till the deadly tin-fish, met them on the flanks,
Of liners and the escorts, the tankers and the tramps.

Some torpedoed in their prime, plates all ripped and tearing,
Other ones grew old and carried on seafaring,
They died a death or lived a life, maybe badly mauled,
Flying our Red Duster where ever duty called.

From the wallowing rusty bucket to the liner up ahead,
Someone somewhere loved `em with grieving eyes so red,
We do remember those ships that steamed along in lines,
They saved our land when needed, in dire and desperate times.

After sterling service and life that’s very hard,
Her decks and loosened rivets met the breakers yard,
They weathered all the storms - now just cast aside,
But like the men that manned `em, bless `em all with pride.

There is no stone on a ship’s big tomb
Just names marked down in the Admiral’s room
Their only cross on a chart prostrate,
A pencilled fix to point their fate.


Joe Earl.