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Thread: To Serve the World on a Summers Evening--Mersey Memories

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    Post To Serve the World on a Summers Evening--Mersey Memories

    I found this nostalgic poem ,with introductory letter,on my PC from a dozen or so years ago,and don’t recall it’s origin,whether from here or another site.It may be new to some. I love it.




    From a Barry Youde 2002-possibly a Mersey Pilot…



    “A few years ago I was at a lunch held by Merseyside Master Mariners' Club, whose Chaplain is the much-loved Canon Bob Evans. I was invited to recite the poem which appears below. When I had finished there was an immediate complaint by a man who pointed out that I had omitted one Very Important Company which once traded to the Mersey, namely Manchester Liners. (Some readers will have heard of them. !)At this, the eighty-six year old Canon Bob leapt to his feet and interjected:-

    "And Manchester Liners, from Montreal,Coming home with bugger all!"





    TO SERVE THE WORLD ON A SUMMER EVENING-


    Come, evening sunlight, warmth of womb,
    Flood into my sitting-room
    Flood across the Western sea
    And stir a Pilot’s memory.
    Take me back to Lynas Point,(My trencher fill, my glass anoint)
    And let me tell thee of the scene
    On many a balmy summer's e’en,
    When liners, as their trade they plied,
    Came handsomely and on the tide,
    For Liverpool from lands enchanted,
    And how men took it all for granted…..


    See you first the grand Cunard
    With New York mail-flag at her yard.
    The CPR next, from Quebec,
    The icy-scheduled, foggy trek.
    A Clan Line Steamer from Ceylon,An Ellerman from Lebanon,
    A BP Tanker from Iran
    And here’s Blue Funnel, from Japan
    From Panama comes NZS,
    Home from Auckland, wool-express,
    And in her wake Shaw Savill's newest
    who is Home from Sydney, via the Suez.
    An Anchor Liner from Bombay,A Houlder-boat from Uruguay,
    Blue Star with Argentinian cargo
    And PSN from Santiago.
    An Elder Dempster from Accra,
    A Harrison from Zanzibar
    A Brocklebank with tea,-Madras,
    Intrepid Booth Line, -from Manaus.....

    The sun it will be setting soon,
    Ah, here comes Bibby from Rangoon.
    Each takes her Pilot from the Cutter
    A routine matter- bread and butter.
    What panorama was afforded!
    All in the daily log recorded.

    So, darling daughters at my knee,It was a wondrous life, D’you see?



    Barrie Youde 2002
    Last edited by Graham Shaw; 3rd July 2022 at 09:52 AM.

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    Smile Re: To Serve the World on a Summers Evening--Mersey Memories

    Yes,it can be fun to rediscover lost or long-forgotten gems on one's computer. In one of my files which I had saved as 'Literature and Poetry-Nautical' I discovered a few more.
    No,I am not going to bore you all by going into poetry mode,maybe just now and again,some other time.

    However there are a few amusing ones.We all know the rhyme about the enigmatic Oozlum Bird and what happened to it and just where and why it disappeared,but there is also a rhyme evoking a memory and an image
    I do know why I saved it originally,along with others,because it brought back happy memories of being a cadet 50+ years ago ,when we cadets were often invited down to the Pig,or the PO's mess ,usually after a hard day's graft on deck, to celebrate ,for example,a birthday .Apart from the popular seafarers songs which we soon learned and picked up. I remember one particular Bosun rendering ,with great dramatic gesturing,facial expressions and appropriate pauses of breath ,many rhymes and ditties such as the following. Imagine the outburst of ribald laughter and the throwing of much amber liquid down throats that ensued on those memorable hot trans-Indian Ocean nights...



    The Camel and the Sphinx


    (Clearing of Throat to begin ).....

    "Now,the sexual urge of the camel,
    Is greater than anyone thinks.
    In moments of erotic excitement,
    .......It frequently buggers the Sphinx.

    Now the Sphinx’s posterior passage
    Is washed by the sands of the Nile
    Which explains both the face of the camel
    ………….And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile. "

    Sphinx.jpgCamel.jpg






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    Default Re: To Serve the World on a Summers Evening--Mersey Memories

    That brings back memories! I recall a variant which was song to the tune of the Oxford Boat Song.

    "The sexual life of the camel,
    Is stranger than anyone thinks.
    For this most abominable mammal
    Has designs on the hole of the the Sphinx.

    Now the Sphinx’s vagina is narrow
    And blocked by the the sands of the Nile
    Which accounts for the hump on the camel
    And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile. "

    I hope this is PC . . . We must not offend the antiquarians.
    Harry Nicholson

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    Default Re: To Serve the World on a Summers Evening--Mersey Memories

    #1 Hi graham. I thought I recognized the name BARRY YOUDE. It was on Ships Nostalgia. He had some great posts, I always thought he would have liked to be PARA HANDY sailing the VITAL SPARK through the Western Isles.
    Bill.

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