You would think that after so many times,
The story would be wearing quite thin,
But, the three little mites looked on wide eyed,
Asking once more to be told,
How their father fought,
And helped the English to win…..

“Alright then….Maisy and Daisy, draw close to the fire,
Jamie sit here on my knee,
And I’ll tell you of one time I went to sea,
Then, when all’s been said,
Promise me you’ll all be up that wooden hill,
And get tucked into that bed…..”


We’d been at sea two weeks, in a captured ship called “Le Couteau”,
That's “The Knife”, to you and me, if you want to know.
Like a stray wolf, we’d slunk off from the pack,
And now was the time to start our attack,
Three sheets to the wind, down the topsail,
“Hoist the French colours“,
Came the shout,
For in war, nothing’s beyond the pail.
Into the wind, hard a’ bout!
She turns on a sixpence, that too like on a wheel.
Ballast holds, though each crest and trough we feel.
Every man jack of us leaning on the starboard side,
Thinking, when we catch them Frenchies, we’ll tan their hide.
Canon at the ready, Muskets full of shot,
Powder monkey’s keeping tinder hot,
While the lookout stays up top.
The captain then changes his tunic of blue,
To that of a Frenchie, coat and hat,
Apart from two musket ball holes, it looked quite new,
But, unless you was up close,
You wouldn’t notice that!
And, talking about up close,
Of a sudden, there the Frenchie was,
Just as we finished our tack to port,
There’s us, muskets and cutlass’s at the ready,
None fearing nought,
And there’s me with a bolas too,…Well….Just because…..
This time, by orders, no capture of our quarry,
We’re to make of it a funeral pyre,
Then…From the quarterdeck, the order comes down…..
Ready lads…..Steady…..Now….FIRE!…………

The monkey handed me the tinder, I lit the fuse,
All Hell…Was about to be let loose…..
First…There’s the Bang…Little Jamie’s eyes widened with glee,
Then ….A belch of orange flame….He bounces on his Pa’s knee,
“Then the smoke Pa…Then the smoke!”….Maisy and Daisy join in,
Ma comes in with a smile on her face, hands him his pipe and baccy tin,
“SHHhhhh now”, she says….Pa’s doing the telling,
And you three….Are supposed to be doing the listening……”
Almost instant silence again filled the room,
Pa pulled from the fire a lighted splint,
That momentarily lit the gloom,
When he pulled on his pipe, a glow sort of lit his face,
Giving added atmosphere to the place,
“So…Where was I?”….Winked Pa,
“The smoke Pa!”……Smiled Ma………….