The Ghosts From The Inn
My first visit to Portsmouth, is where the story will begin,A cold dark November night, the sea breeze was blowing in.I seen an Inn just through the fog at first it looked so petty,Twas an old gray building on it’s own, and it stood beside the jetty. I walked up to the landlord, his face flickered by the candelabrum,He asked me what I was having, I replied a navy rum.I took my rum and sat on my own, in a flickering but shady corner,With the rum in me and a roaring fire, I felt the Inn get warmer. Just then an old man come over and said to me “may I?”I said yes, please sit down, he had a twinkle in his eye.He wore a navy cap, his beard was white as snow,He sipped his rum and smiled and his face was such a glow. “Let me tell you a story young man, once shared with all the boys,The first naval battle of the hundred year war, created quite a noise.It was fought just off West Flanders as the French King prepared to invade,The French were blinded by the sun as the English attacked from the shade” “They lost a hundred and ninety ships, every single one went down,The English archers killed the blinded crossbowmen, and eighteen thousand drowned.One of the most crushing victories the navy told from the bench,So many Gaulic deaths there, they say the fish were speaking French” “Thank you for the chat my friend, it was nice to say hello,But it’s getting cold and I am old, so now I have to go”I bought another rum and relaxed upon this chair,A seafaring man walked up to me and said “can I sit there?” He was dressed like a cavalier, dark blue and silver buckle,A feather in his hat, thigh boots and chewed upon a truckle.His stony face, his curled mustache, his hand grasped a narrow sword,He genuflect and tipped his hat, “may I have a word?” “Did you hear of the fire ships, that sailed to Calais regatta?They drove the Spanish out to sea and then they sank the mighty Armada.The Spanish in unfamiliar seas, thirty five ships were wrecked.And most of this was down to the Elizabethan intellect” We had another rum and we both then had a sigh,The buccaneer decided there, he had to say goodbye.I ordered up another rum, to not would be a sin,And just as I sat down again a sailor came marching in. “Forgive me sir how are you? May I join you in a tot,I’ve just come in from the sea in a big old rusty yacht”He looked like an admiral, in serge blue and big brass buttons,Shiny black shoes and lanyard and a pleasant introduction. “In Jutland near to Germany, two hundred and fifty ships came to meet,The biggest battle of the seven seas took mass casualties on each fleet.Britain took most losses, The Invincible and Queen Mary,The German’s lost a lot of lives, but the U Boat threat was scary” “The Germans lost half their men and half their battle cruisers,Nobody claimed a victory, but half those sailors were losers.Thank you for the rum my friend, but now I have to go,I have a date at twelve o’clock, with a tart in the Old Benbow” Well time I had another rum, it’s been quite an education,Then in stepped another man, and from another nation.“Excuse me my friend, may I zit down here, I has to tell a story,It’s about us Germans in ze war, and zi Bismark’s fame und glory” He had a gray peaked cap, with an eagle at the front,Then cleared his throat then spoke to me. I felt that he was blunt.He wore a black leather trench coat, with an iron cross just above the neck,Black jackboots creaking, “I’m Lindemann from the Bismark’s quarterdeck” “In nineteen forty one, a battle cruiser built in Scotland at Clydebank,Made it’s way to the Atlantic to find the Bismark to outrank,Ze Bismark whilst zmoking, vas lame yes I do admit,But fired one deadly shot and The Hood took a direct hit” “It vas good to talk you, and so kind here not to squabble,I’ve left some rum with ze landlord, he’ll open you ze bottle”“Thank you for ze time, I have to meet my anchormen,time for me to board my ship, for now it’s auf wiedersehen” I wake up in the morning, freezing from the cold,Shake my shoulders rub my hands, and from my coat a bottle rolled.I look up to the sky, the moon and stars shine from the dark,Oh no! I’ve got drunk again, and fell asleep here in the park! Off I went up the road to see if I can find that jetty,The drink is flowing from my head and my body is oh so sweaty.I find the place, I see the roof but it’s clad in a fence of tin,I asked a local walking by, if it used to be an Inn. He said they closed it down, for centuries it was open,And everyone would venture here from boatmen to a bosunBut there was a guy in the seventies who sat near a candelabrum,He died there in an armchair sipping his navy rum. Bernie Logue.