A freighter ploughs through heavy seas
Navigating oceans by degrees
Racing to bring precious cargo back
Convoyed to reduce the chance of attack
….
The war effort needs these crucial supplies
Ferried to Britain under pewter skies
Below in the cold and merciless deep
Lies a deadly enemy that does not sleep
….
U boats silently stalk their prey
Alert and watching night and day
Silent, merciless cylinders of steel
Torpedoes armed, aimed at the ship’s keel
….
In the freighter’s bowels, ‘neath bulkhead light
Stokers swing shovels in constant night
Sweat, coal dust, crippling heat, endured
Power for the engines must be assured
….
In the stern, the propeller churns
Boiling the sea, the ship tacks and turns
On the bridge the look-out is slack
Failing to spot the moon-silvered track
….
Hell is let loose near the water line
Two explosions rock the ship’s spine
Salt seas pour in with torrent strength
Alarms ring out along the ship’s length
….
The stokers know the emergency drill
But the deluged furnaces are quick to kill
“98 hands lost”, the official post
“Ship sunk within sight of the British coast”