The Old Vindictive Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

It was the old
Vindictive
out of Dover put to sea,
And she sailed to the Lowlands low,
With cruisers and with small craft all to bear her company,
And her fighting lads on fire to sight the foe!
'St. George for Merrie England,' went the word from man to man,
'Let us give the Dragon's tail a twist as British seamen can,' -
The twenty-third of April when
Vindictive
led the van,
And she sailed to the Lowlands low -
With a fighting signal flying, and a cheering crew replying,
Oh, she sailed to the Lowlands low!

It was the old
Vindictive
, and her years were turned a score
When she sailed to the Lowlands low -
For years she 'd lain forgotten to her moorings at the Nore,
And they thought her day was over long ago;
But oh, they sang another song, another tale they told,
When she came as Drake and Cochrane with their fireships came of old,
In the mist and flame and darkness, all to storm the pirates' hold,
On that night by the Lowlands low -
For they caught the pirates drowsing, and they gave their nest a rousing,
In the night by the Lowlands low!

It was the old
Vindictive
, and she went to fight her last
Once again to the Lowlands low,
With her glorious scars upon her to her glorious grave she passed,
As fighting ships and men would choose to go.
With roar of many a battery, and boom of many a gun,
Her last commission 's ended and her battles all are done,
For we sank her and we left her where her fighting fame was won,
And she lies by the Lowlands low, -
Still her silent watch a-keeping, with the tide above her sweeping,
There she lies by the Lowlands low!