The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more,
For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore—
When Hawke came swooping from the West!
How the British Navy came by its first Formidable man-of-war, the predecessor in the direct line of the fine first-class battleship, the Formidable of our modern Navy, is one of the most exciting tales in our naval annals. It serves too to commemorate one of the most brilliant victories ever won at sea—the dashing encounter on that eventful winter’s afternoon in the Bay of Biscay, “When Hawke came swooping from the West”:—
’Twas long past noon of a wild November day
When Hawke came swooping from the West;
He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay,
But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast.
Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight,
Fiercely beat the storm-wind, darkly fell the night.