She's weathered the lot, and she'll do it again,
The same as she's done before.
And sail or steam or coasting craft, the big ships with the small,
The barges which were steamers once, the hulks that once were tall,
They wanted tonnage cruel bad, and so they fetched 'em all.
And some went out as fighting-craft and shipped a fighting crew,
But most they tramped the same old road they always used to do,
With a crowd of merchant-sailormen, as might be me or you ...
With a lick o' paint and a bucket o' tar,
And she's fit for the seas once more,