Merchant Navy Heroes

Don’t speak to me of heroes
Until you’ve heard the tale
Of Britain’s merchant seamen
Who sailed through storm and gale
To keep those lifelines open
In our nation’s hour of need
When a tyrant cast a shadow
Across our island breed.

Captains, greasers, cabin boys,
Mates and engineers
Heard the call to duty
And cast aside their fears.
They stoked those hungry boilers
And stood behind the wheel
While cooks and stewards manned the guns
On coffins made of steel.

They moved in icy convoys
From Scapa to Murmansk
And crossed the western ocean,
Never seeking thanks.
They sailed the South Atlantic
Where raiders lay in wait
And kept the flood lines open
From Malta to the Cape.

Tracked by silent u-boats
Which hunted from below,
Shelled by mighty cannons
And fighters flying low.
They clung to burning lifeboats
Where the sea had turned to flame
And watched their shipmates disappear
To everlasting fame.

I speak not of a handful
But thirty thousand plus,
Some whose names we’ll never know
In whom we placed our trust.
They never knew the honour
Of medals on their chests
Or marching bands and victory
And glory and the rest.
The ocean is their resting place,
Their tombstone is the wind,
The seabirds cry their last goodbye
To family and friend.

Freighters, troopships,
Liners and tankers by the score,
Fishing boats and coasters,
Two thousand ships and more
Flew the proud red duster
As they sank beneath the waves
And took those countless heroes
To lonely ocean graves.

Their legacy is freedom
To those who hold it dear,
To walk with clear horizons
And never hide in fear.

So when you speak of heroes,
Remember those at sea
From Britain’s merchant navy
Who died to keep us free.

( Written by David Partridge )