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Description
Date: 10 June 1915
Transcript:
THE FISHERMAN AND THE HUNS.
I see those German submarines
Have been at work again
On British trawlers; that they're out
For murder's pretty plain.
There's nothing underhand enough,
For those sea sharks to do—
First sink the ship, then fire upon
The small boats with their crew.
It makes my blood boil when I think
Of helpless fishermen
Sent to their doom. And tho' we sink
A pirate now and then
The ones at large still carry on
The game whene'er they can,
In full defiance of all laws
Of either God or man.
[cartoon showing Jack reading a news poster]
And they call themselves sailors!
Well, thanks to luck, there's one the less
To sail the seas to-day;
One "Unterseeboote," [sic] as they're called
Has gone below to stay.
And, what is more, the pirate crew,
Steeped to the lips in gore.
Have gone below along with her—
Their murdering days are o'er.
You'd like to hear the yarn? All right.
It happened in this way:
I'd gone out in my motor-boat
To fish the other day.
'Way out to sea I ran, and fish!
I caught 'em by the score!
The little Scout was nearly full,
So off for home I bore.
[cartoon of Jack in his boat finding a mine]
A drifting mine.
'Twas when I got three miles from land
That I first noticed it.
Great Scot! it was a drifting mine!
I nearly took a fit.
And then a submarine appeared,
A German I could see,
And, bless yer heart! the next I knew,
The "sub" was hailing me!
"Ve vant some feesh," the German cried.
"You send us vat you got
At once, you Engleesh swine, or ve
Vill sink you on de spot."
He heaved a rope."Ein box o' feesh.
We'll land dem mit der rope."
"All right!" I shouts. Then muttors, "You'll
Get more than fish, I hope!"
[cartoon showing a German submariner]
"Ve vant dose feesh."
The mine had drifted down to me,
But t'other side, d'ye see,
From where the sub was lying, and
The idea flashed on me
That I would send the mine as well,
Tied down beneath the box.
Call me a swine "I guess," says I,
"This mine will give 'em sox!"
So, filling up a box with fish,
I very carefully
Fixed on the mine beneath it; for
I knew they couldn't see
What I was up to. Then I shouts:
"It's mine; but heave away,
I'll charge ye nothing for the fish,
But, all the same, ye'll pay!
[cartoon showing Jack preparing the box]
I fixed the mine beneath.
Hand over hand they hauled the box
Towards the submarine.
"Now, Jack," says I, "I think it's time
That you cleared off the scene."
Nearer and nearer, closer still;
They hadn't twigged my game.
Then, bang alongside went the box,
And then—a sheet o' flame!
A sheet o' flame, accompanied by
A most terrific roar.
And when I turned and looked again
The pirate was no more.
What's that? Was any o' them saved?
No, not a single one.
And I ain't sorry, after what
Those murdering Huns have done.
Source:
McMann, W. ‘Jack’s Yarns: “The Fisherman and the Huns”.’ The Brecon County Times. 17 June 1915. 7.
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