Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2013 17:29:02 GMT -5
H.M.S. SNAEFELL:
(Previously named P.S Barry also P.S.Waverly)
Launched; 1907 Sunk; 1941 Rediscovered; 2010
There was a team of divers that found a sunken wreck,
Eight miles away from Sunderland on the North Sea deck,
It was the sweeper Snaefell - all trace lost `till now,
Since bombed and sunk in `forty one by damage to her bow.
She was launched as P.S. Barry when built so long ago,
A well-loved paddle steamer scheduled to and fro,
Her glossy shining paintwork was red and pearly white,
Her bunting and the ensign on halyards whipping tight.
She gave so many people a time of bracing pleasure,
Merrymaking passengers enjoying days to treasure,
Registered in South Wales in her early years,
Calling at the channel ports to cheering from the piers.
Outstanding in the Great War for aquatic chores,
Transporting at Galliopolli many men and stores,
Dodging mines and shells in the Dardanelles campaign,
Earned this speedy lady everlasting fame.
Later on in `twenty six she steamed our southern climes,
Sailing out of Brighton and Hastings many times,
There she was the Waverly - famous just the same,
`Till the second war arrived and changed her name again.
She then became the Snaefell minesweeping for the navy,
Paintwork now a drab grey and daubed a sort of wavy,
When called again she answered, with urgent crucial work,
Withdrawing many troops from the beaches at Dunkirk.
True, our hardy mariners steered her through the rough,
Kept the old girl going, when the going was so tough,
Like other paddle steamers that thrust ahead with pride,
A mortal wound, her time was up - she crossed the bar and died.
Her paddles rest in mud and murk but once stirred up the foam,
Her binnacle of dented brass no more a compass home,
Her long sharp bow is mangled iron - the engine-room a tomb,
Alas the fate of Snaefell, when a German bomb went `boom`.
LINK: joesverse.simplesite.com/160596375