Under the Old Red Duster

The Flag of the British Merchant Navy The Battle of the Atlantic We’ve heard of the famous Mighty Hood that was sunk by a Bismarck shell We know how many men were lost and the Skippers name as well We’ve seen the Battleship Barham rolling on her side before the huge explosion in which so many died The Repulse and Prince of Wales on rout to the Singapore post Both lost to the Jap torpedo planes off the Malaya coast There’s a film about the Kelly sunk in the battle of Crete And of the famous River Plate where we inflicted defeat Yet who knows the names of the merchant ships sunk almost every day Who knew that as these ships went down seamen were put off pay Shipping Companies all did this to cut down on the cost They lost one of their freighters, but how many lives were lost What of the men on the Arctic run ferrying Russian supplies The ocean full of U-boats and Bombers filling the skies Sailing a gas filled Tanker some only in their teens Wondering if they’ll freeze to death or be blown to smithereens Wallowing along in a rusting tramp to save the Russian Nation Struggling to make eight knots whilst trying to keep station Should a seaman stay topside or should he seek his bunk Knowing if you fall astern your certain to be sunk Many a merchant ship now lies under the Barents Sea Lost in a desperate struggle to set the Russians free The ocean bed is littered with merchant seaman’s bones Now to lay forever at peace with Davie Jones As a Nation we are rightly proud of our Navy in World War Two Likewise of the R.A.F and what we owe to the few To the men who fought at Arhnem and Monty’s Desert Rats To those who fought the Japanese to all we raise our hats From the Home Guard to the S.O.E in it from the start All of our Armed Services were keen to play their part Each had lost so many when they counted the final muster But the greatest loss was those who sailed under the Old Red Duster