Frankie’s Trade
Old Horn to All Atlantic said:(A-hay O! To me O!)‘Now where did Frankie learn his trade?For he ran me down with a three-reef mains’le.’(All round the Horn!)
Atlantic answered: ‘Not from me!You’d better ask the cold North Sea,For he ran me down under all plain canvas.’(All round the Horn!)
The North Sea answered: ‘He’s my man,For he came to me when he began—Frankie Drake in an open coaster.(All round the Sands!)
‘I caught him young and I used him sore,So you never shall startle Frankie more,Without capsizing Earth and her waters.(All round the Sands!)
‘I did not favour him at all,I made him pull and I made him haul—And stand his trick with the common sailors.(All round the Sands!)
‘I froze him stiff and I fogged him blind,And kicked him home with his road to findBy what he could see of a three-day snow-storm.(All round the Sands!)
‘I learned him his trade o’ winter nights,‘Twixt Mardyk Fort and Dunkirk lightsOn a five-knot tide with the forts a-firing.(All round the Sands!)
‘Before his beard began to shoot,I showed him the length of the Spaniard’s foot—And I reckon he clapped the boot on it later.(All round the Sands!)‘If there’s a risk which you can makeThat’s worse than he was used to takeNigh every week in the way of his business;(All round the Sands!)
‘If there’s a trick that you can tryWhich he hasn’t met in time gone by,Not once or twice, but ten times over;(All round the Sands!)
‘If you can teach him aught that’s new,(A-hay O! To me O!)I’ll give you Bruges and Niewport too,And the ten tall churches that stand between ’em.’Storm along, my gallant Captains!(All round the Horn!)