His soul is gone aloft.”
Eliza Cook[92] has followed the same vein in her “Gallant English Tar,” and has also paid a worthy tribute to those hardy sons of Neptune, “The Boatmen of the Downs.”
“There’s fury in the tempest, and there’s madness in the waves,
The lightning snake coils round the foam, the headlong thunder raves;
Yet a boat is on the waters filled with Britain’s daring sons,
Who pull like lions out to sea, and count the minute guns.
’Tis mercy calls them to the work—a ship is in distress!
Away they speed with timely help that many a heart shall bless;
And braver deeds than ever turned the fate of kings and crowns
Are done for England’s glory by her boatmen of the Downs!”