William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
Our Naval HeroesCharles L. S. Jones
S
The heroes of our naval glory claim the high song!
Strike the string!
Whilst Time, upon the wing,
Listening, stands to seize and spread their praise
O’er ocean’s waves, where, beaming,
Freedom’s bright stars are streaming;
Where our war-ships, coursing fearless, wend their way along!
Strike the sounding lyre! The song shall rise,
Deathless, immortal, in thundering echoes to the skies,
With the bright wreaths of an immortality,
To grace and crown our heroes of the sea!
Old England, with her thronging navy, claim’d the proud sway,
Boasting wide
Dominion o’er its tide,
Vainly hectoring o’er its foamy plain;
Till, o’er the briny ocean,
Taught by the high devotion
Of our tars to Freedom’s cause, she cowering yields the day.
Strike the sounding lyre! the song shall rise,
Deathless, immortal, in thundering echoes to the skies,
With the bright wreaths of an immortality,
To grace and crown our heroes of the sea!