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[Illustration:  The Artist (impatiently). “FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE PUT SOME EXPRESSION INTO IT!  JUST IMAGINE YOU’VE COME THROUGH A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE—­SHIP TORPEDOED—­YOU SOLE SURVIVOR.  AFTER CLINGING TO A BELAYING-PIN NINETEEN HOURS IN THE OPEN SEA YOU ARE RESCUED AT THE LAST GASP.  YOU ARE NOW RELATING YOUR ADVENTURES TO YOUR AGED PARENTS.”

Model (obligingly). “THAT’S ALL RIGHT, SIR—­I CAN MANAGE IT.  BUT EXCUSE ME.  DID YOU SAY EIGHTEEN HOURS, OR WAS IT NINETEEN?”]

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[Illustration:  King Alfred (founder of the Navy). “MADAM, I WAS EXPERIMENTING ON BISCUITS FOR MY SEA-DOGS.”]

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“LET HER GO!”

A TRAMP CHANTEY.

’Er keel was laid in ’seventy-four
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go);
They built ‘er cheap an’ they scamped ’er sore,
’Er rivets was putty, ’er plates was poor,
And then come in the PLIMSOLL line
Or I wouldn’t be singin’ this song o’ mine. 
(Let ’er go!)

She was cranky an’ foul, she was stubborn an’ slow
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go),
An’ she shipped it green when it come on to blow;
‘Er crews was starved an’ their wage was low,
An ‘er bloomin’ owners was ready to faint
At a scrape o’ pitch or a penn’orth o’ paint. 
(Let ’er go!)

But she’s been ‘ere an’ she’s been there
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go),
An’ she’s been almost everywhere;
An’ wherever you went you’d sure see ’er,
With ‘er rust-red hawse an’ ’er battered old funnel,
All muck an’ dirt from ’er keel to ’er gun’le. 
(Let ’er go!)

She’s earned ‘er keep in a number o’ climes
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go);
She’s changed ‘er name a number o’ times,
Which won’t fit right into these ’ere rhymes,
But the name of ‘er now is the Sound o’ Mull,
Built on the Tyne an’ sails out of ’Ull. 
(Let ’er go!)

’Er keel was laid in ’seventy-four
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go),
An’ a breaker’s price was ’er price before
The ships was scarce an’ the freights did soar;
But she’s fetched ’er fourteen pound a ton
On the Baltic Exchange since the War begun. 
(Let ’er go!)

So she’s doin’ ’er bit, which we all must do
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go),
An’ whether she’s old or whether she’s new
Don’t make much odds to a war-time crew,
But ’ooever’s sunk or ’ooever’s drowned,
The Sound o’ Mull keeps pluggin’ around. 
(Let ’er go!)

An’ when she goes, by night or by day
(Let ’er go—­let ’er go),
Either up or down, as she likely may,
I only ’ope as someone’ll say: 
“’Er keel was laid in ’seventy-four;
She done ‘er best an’ she couldn’t do more;
She warn’t no swell an’ she warn’t no beauty,
But she come by ’er end in the way of ’er duty.” 
(Let ’er go!) C. F. S.