JERVIS BAY

“Scatter lads and get yourselves some distance
Writing letters home will have to wait
Because Britain needs this food more than the mermaids do
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper will be late”

One sturdy Irish Captain who’d commanded ships before
The Colossus, Moy, and Paladin besides
The Suffolk, Dauntless, Curlew, and the Dragon knew his touch
And he knew where a captain’s honour rides
Thirty-seven freighters – Convoy HX84
Halifax to Britain that first Autumn of the war

The Admiral Scheer was hunting in the North Atlantic seas
Unprotected merchanters her prey
This convoy had an escort and its thirty-seven ships
Defended by the guns of Jervis Bay
The year was 1940 and the day was Guy Fawkes Day
Captain Fegen knew he’d do his duty, come what may

“Scatter lads and get yourselves some distance
Writing letters home will have to wait
Britain needs this food more than the mermaids do
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper will be late”

Outgunned, they sent the signal and they took the battle on.
The convoy scattered, all but five reached home
The Jervis Bay threw everything she had against the Scheer
Stood firm against the enemy alone
A shell had smashed her steering gear, she blazed yet still she came
We won’t forget her crewmen and we won’t forget her name:

“Scatter lads and get yourselves some distance
Writing letters home will have to wait
Britain needs this food more than the mermaids do
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper will be late”

It took twenty-four minutes for the battle to be won
The Jervis Bay went down all decks ablaze
The Swedish freighter ‘Stureholm’ came seeking to assist
Pulled sixty-five survivors from the waves
And Liverpool Cathedral held a service later on
Remembering the Jervis Bay and the crewmen who were gone

“Scatter lads and get yourselves some distance
Writing letters home will have to wait
Britain needs this food more than the mermaids do
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper will be late”

Other convoys braved the trip from Canada’s great plains
The grain needs ships to move it and Britain needs the grain!

“Scatter lads and get yourselves some distance
Writing letters home had better wait
Because Britain needs this food more than the mermaids do
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper’s running late
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper’s running late
Tell Mrs Jones her husband Davy’s supper...
Will be late”