Of Ships and the Sea

I have long loved sailing ships, and stories and movies about them. I have even spent a few months designing and making a couple of models to erect inside bottles. Fascinated with the subject, I empathize with the men who built them and the men who sailed in them. It was a tough life on the sea, but with great craft and skill ships that could ply the waves were built and our world discovered as a result. Sing me a song of fine old ships, Of fine old ships and the sea, With hulls that ply the rolling waves Like a claymore flying free; And bulkheads that can bear the strain All built of wood and steel, That rise up like a cathedral From a massive bolted keel. Sing me a song of hardy men, Who toil in the shipwright’s trade, Who bend their backs from dawn ’till dusk By whom these ships are made. For months on end with saws and nails, With red hot bolts and steel, They build a ship from bilge to deck On a massive bolted keel. Sing me a song of men that sail In ships on the seven seas, Who ride the waves in storm and gale And laugh with the ocean’s breeze; Who man the decks in rain or shine In ships of wood and steel, With hulls that rise like a great church roof From a massive bolted keel. From massive bolted keels they rise, These ships of wood and steel, Built by men who toil all day, With muscle, sweat and zeal. Built with the shipwright’s craft and skill For the lads who sail the seas, Who ply the foam in a hull for home, And laugh with the ocean’s breeze.