The Merchant Seaman
There’s a rainbow faintly gleaming through the grey skies of old England
To welcome a homeward bounder on the day of his return
Neath the dockyard cranes are looming with a distant siren booming
And the dockyard maties scurry to take his heaving line
And there’s a cold nor’easter squalling and a drizzling rain a falling
But there’s nought can damp his spirits now he has reached the shores of home
For he’s been through hell and danger to them he is no stranger
In the cruel North Atlantic he’s seen men and ships go down
But now’s there’s wives and sweethearts waiting and they’ll soon be celebrating
For Jack is home from sea and he has left the killing ground
And as he walks the streets of Liverpool Cardiff Hull and London Town
He will pass a million people there and some of them may frown
For he doesn’t wear a uniform that tells you what he’s done
He is just the Merchant Seaman that we all depend upon
All too soon his shore time ‘s over and he must sail again
And there is tears amongst his loved ones who know the risks he runs
For he must run that U boat gauntlet as he has done before
Where thousands of his shipmates sleep on that dark ocean floor
For there’s a bloody battle ranging on the cold Atlantic foam
And one in every four like him will not be coming home
For he’s been through hell and danger to them he is no stranger
In the cruel North Atlantic he’s seen men and ships go down
And for wives and sweethearts waiting, there’ll be no celebrating
‘til Jack is home from sea and he has left the killing ground
And as he walks the streets of Liverpool Cardiff Hull and London Town
He will pass a million people there and some of them may frown
For he doesn’t wear a uniform that tells you what he’s done
He is just the Merchant Seaman that we all depend upon
He is from Bristol and Southampton, Newport and Swansea town
From the Humber and from Tyneside, where ever ships are found
And he sails in tramps and tankers, in freighters old and new
In liners and in coasters, in tugs and trawlers too
And he sails on every ocean and he braves the raging sea
To keep our life lines open and to keep this country free
And he sails through hell and danger to them he is no stranger
From the Arctic to Pacific he’s seen men and ships go down
And the wives and sweethearts waiting will do no celebrating
‘til Jack is home from sea and he has left the killing ground
And if you go to Liverpool Cardiff Hull or London Town
You’ll find him in the dockside pubs where sailors hang around
But he doesn’t wear a uniform that tells you what he’s done
He is just the Merchant Seaman that we all depend upon
He’s The British Merchant Seaman that you can depend upon
Jim Radford
Thanks to Richard Patterson for supplying these