“The foe was creepin’ close,

In the dark, to our white-cliffed isle;

They were ready to leap at England’s throat,

When—O, you may smile, you may smile;

EARLY PORTRAITS OF SIR JOHN JELLICOE
AS MIDSHIPMAN AS LIEUTENANT

“But—ask of the Devonshire men;

For they heard in the dead of night

The roll of a drum, and they saw him pass

On a ship all shining white.