(He was lying like a hatter, I could see).

"I was with him when the Frenchies' line we broke,

With our wooden ships and sailors' hearts of oak,

And the great three-decker's cannon's voice awoke,

Every minute as they thundered thro' the smoke."

"Oh, blow it!" said the sailor man to me

(His language, I admit, was rather free),

"Now you sends a black torpedo, and it seeks

To hit a wessel sideways—then she leaks,

And sinks while every sailor prays and shrieks,