* * * * *

THE NEW NAVY.

["The New Navy of small craft, created by the special needs of
the War ... has every reason to be proud of its share in bringing
the War to a victorious conclusion. The good wishes of the Board
of Admiralty and the Royal Navy will follow the armed yachts,
trawlers, drifters and motor-boats after they have hauled down
the colours they flew as His Majesty's Auxiliary Patrol Vessels."

_Admiralty Message to the Auxiliary Patrol Service_.]

The Old Navy wakened and got under way
And hurried to Scapa in battle array,
While the drifters and trawlers looked on from afar
At the cruisers and battleships off to the War;
Having sped their departure with ev'ry good wish,
The drifters and trawlers returned to their fish.

Do you know the sensation, so hard to explain,
Of living a former existence again,
With never a clue to the why or the when?
Well, the drifters and trawlers were feeling it then,
And the sea chuckled deep as it washed to and fro
On the hulls of the battleships up in the Flow.

The Old Navy waited, the Old Navy swore,
While battleships costing two millions and more
Reviewed the position from starboard to port: