“Mr. Benbow, the engineer of one of the steamers in which the rescue of General Gordon was attempted, arrived in London yesterday. Mr. Benbow was engineer of the steamer on which Lord Charles Beresford performed his deeds of gallantry on the Upper Nile; and among his friends he is popularly known as ‘the Man who Mended the Boiler.’ He has come to this country in response to an official telegram.”
Come, all ye Britons, brave and bold,
Whilst I this story do unfold—
(A better tale is seldom told)
The Man who Mended the Boiler!
An Engineer as deft as brave,
With a name that smacks of the salt sea wave,
And a heart as staunch
As the hull of his launch;
And whenever Britons must meet the foe,