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| The stage is set, the ways are greased, |
| The shattering din in her hull has ceased. |
| Guests assemble for function and feast |
| And the speech of a prominent banker. |
| God Speed to all who sail in thee!’ |
| The great form shudders as the chocks fall free, |
| And a noble ship slips down to the sea, |
| At the launch of a British tanker. |
| Year after year through heat and spray, |
| Doldrums and hurricanes, the gulf and the bay, |
| Tropical sunset and daybreak grey, |
| Never at rest or at anchor; |
| Carrying potions by devils brewed, |
| Benzene kerosene, fuel and crude, |
| Hurrying slave to the market’s mood, |
| That is the lot of a tanker. |
| Berth her and load her without delay, |
| Drive her and sweat her by night and day, |
| Dock her, discharge her, get her away! |
| No matter how you may hanker. |
| ‘Finished with engines’, finished with strife, |
| Now for a quiet week-end with the wife, |
| Home for the week-end? Not on your life, |
| You don’t get week-ends on a tanker! |
| The grey wolf into the convoy slips, |
| Hunting his prey ‘midst the crowded ships, |
| The U-boat Commander, curls his lips |
| In a smile of hate and rancour. |
| The periscope’s twisted spray washed eyes |
| The hull of a tanker soon espies, |
| And the U-boat harries and hunts its prize |
| The prize of a British tanker: |
| Never away from the battle zone, |
| Never away from the bombers’ drone |
| Or the thresh of a ‘sub’ on a hydrophone - |
| We’ve a lot for which to thank her! |
| Fuel for the bomber’s offensive sweep, |
| Fuel for the tank, the truck and the jeep, |
| Fuel for the Navy, their watch to keep: |
| That is the work of a tanker! |
| Author Unknown |
| Written c. 1942: |
| Quoted from memory by Captain George Griffiths: |
| Cited in British Fleet News, July 1982 |