For it's home, dearie, home--it's home I want to be, Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea; O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree, They're all growing green in the old countrie. In Baltimore a-walking with a lady I did meet With her babe on her arm, as she came down the street; And I thought how I sailed, and the cradle standing ready For the pretty little babe that has never seen its daddy. And it's home, dearie, home, &c. O, if it be a lass, she shall wear a golden ring; And if it be a lad, he shall fight for his king: With his dirk and his hat and his little jacket blue He shall walk the quarter-deck as his daddie used to do. And it's home, dearie, home, &c. O, there's a wind a-blowing, a-blowing from the west, And that of all the winds is the one I like the best, For it blows at our backs, and it shakes our pennon free, And it soon will blow us home to the old countrie. For it's home, dearie, home--it's home I want to be, Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea; O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree, They're all growing green in the old countrie. --_Old Song._ "FAREWELL AND ADIEU" This famous song was sung in the Navy all through the Sailing Age; and it is not yet forgotten after a century of Steam and Steel. Gibraltar, Cadiz, and many other places on the coast of Spain, were great ports of call for the Navy as well as great ports of trade for the Mercantile Marine. So, what with music, dance, and song in these homes of the South, there was no end to the flirtations between the Spanish ladies and the British tars in the piping times of peace. Farewell, and adieu to you, gay Spanish ladies, Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain! For we've received orders for to sail for old England, But we hope in a short time to see you again. We'll rant and we'll roar like true British heroes, We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas, Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England; From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues. Then we hove our ship to, with the wind at sou'-west, boys, We hove our ship to, for to strike soundings clear; We got soundings in ninety-five fathom, and boldly Up the channel of old England our course we did steer. The first we made it was calléd the Deadman, Next, Ramshead off Plymouth, Start, Portland, and Wight; We passed by Beechy, by Fairleigh, and Dungeness, And hove our ship to, off the South Foreland light. Then a signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor, All in the downs, that night for to sleep; Then stand by your stoppers, let go your shank-painters, Haul all your clew-garnets, stick out tacks and sheets. --_Old Song._ BOOK III THE AGE OF STEAM AND STEEL PART I A CENTURY OF CHANGE (1814-1914) CHAPTER XX A CENTURY OF BRITISH-FRENCH-AMERICAN PEACE (1815-1914)