Dreadnought
24-10-2009, 14:14
Rear Admiral Ronald Arthur Hopwood (1868 - 1949) was referred to as the "poet laureate" of the Royal Navy by TIME MAGAZINE, January 6, 1941. Hopwood's naval career began in the Victorian navy as a gunnery officer and when he retired in 1919 he had advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral.
He published several volumes of poetry, most of which had to do with the service and the sea. Naval military academies around the world have adopted his poem "Laws of the Navy" to help instill the right spirit into their cadets.
THE following memoir of Admiral Ronald Hopwood which appeared in "The Times" of the 2nd of January, 1950
“Born on the 7th of December, 1868, he was the third son of the late John Turner Hopwood. Educated at Cheam School, he entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in 1882, and became a lieutenant in 1890. After serving in the gunboat Sparrow on the Cape and West Africa Station, he joined the Excellent in 1891 to specialize in gunnery, and on qualifying in 1893 was appointed to the junior staff in the Cambridge, Devonport gunnery school. He was gunnery officer of the cruiser Blake in the Channel and the battleship Goliath in China, and also served on the senior staff in the Cambridge.
Promoted to commander in 1902 he was executive officer in the Glory, flagship in China, and the cruiser Duke of Edinburgh, and received further advancement to captain in 1907. After commanding the Grafton and Revenge, attached to the Excellent as gunnery training ships, he was Flag Captain from 1910 to 1912 to Vice-Admiral Jellicoe in the Prince of Wales and Hercules, and from 1913 until after war broke out in 1914 commanded the cruiser Gibraltar. He was appointed in December, 1914, a member of the Ordnance Committee, of which he became vice-president in 1917. He served as such until January, 1919, when he retired on promotion to rear admiral. From 1919 to 1922 he was general secretary of the Navy League. His subsequent advancements to vice-admiral in 1924 and admiral in 1928 were on the retired list. He was made a C.B. in January, 1919.
As an author, Admiral Hopwood first became known by his poem " The Laws of the Navy," published about 1895 when he was a lieutenant. Its shrewd common sense and philosophic outlook made it deservedly popular. In later life he wrote " The Old Way," " The Secret of the Ships," and " The New Navy," all of which were steeped in the tradition of the Service.”
The Laws of the Navy originally appeared in the "Army and Navy Gazette", 23 July 1896. The verses after ‘Moral’ were evidently expanded after the 1919 publication date, along with a few other rewordings including a reference to a "Harveyised belt may protect her" in one line which was the state-of-the-art armour in the World War 1 period.
The poem set forth what might safely be termed the "wisdom of the ages" for all who seek to make their way in large, hierarchical organizations, with special emphasis on the seagoing versions. During the World War I era Lieutenant Rowland Langmaid, R.N., made a series of etchings to accompany the poem, which are attached here.
By the mid-1920s, the virtues of "The Laws of the Navy" began to appear in the U.S. Naval Academy's "Reef Points", a little handbook presented to Plebes ("Freshmen" to those unversed in things U.S. Navy) for their edification and guidance. It has been featured in the annual editions of this publication up to the present day, and many a hoary former Plebe can recite its words by heart, having been made to memorize them as an essential part of the educational process. Starting in the early 1970s, "Reef Points" provided a brief introduction to "The Laws of the Navy", which is quoted here (as printed in the 1998-1999 edition) for the benefit of All Hands:
"As a word of advice, we include 'The Laws of the Navy' by Admiral R.A. Hopwood, R.N.(ret.). These twenty-seven laws contain words of wisdom that few of you will appreciate fully now, words which you may wish you had heeded twenty years from now. Read these laws, then apply them. See how those above you apply these rules--and how they sometimes disregard them--and the consequences. Be alert to learn from others; only through experience will your understanding of others broaden. You will become a richer and fuller person, a better naval officer."
Laws of the Navy
Now these are Laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
And he that is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea;
As naught may outrun the destroyer,
Even so with the law and its grip,
For the strength of the ship is the Service,
And the strength of the Service, the ship.
Take heed what ye say of your Rulers,
Be your words spoken softly or plain,
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter,
And so ye shall hear it again.
If ye labor from morn until even,
And meet with reproof for your toil,
It is well – that the gun may be humbled,
The compressor must check the recoil.
On the strength of one link in the cable
Dependeth the might of the chain;
Who knows when thou mayest be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!
When the ship that is tired returneth,
With the signs of the sea showing plain,
Men place her in dock for a season,
And her speed she reneweth again.
So shall thou, lest, perchance, thou grow weary
In the uttermost parts of the sea,
Pray for leave, for the good of the Service
As much and as oft as may be.
Count not upon certain promotion,
But rather to gain it aspire;
Though the sight-line shall end on the target,
There cometh, perchance, a miss-fire.
Can'st follow the track of the dolphin
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where Leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his home?
Even so with the words of thy Rulers,
And the orders those words shall convey.
Every law is as naught beside this one—
"Thou shalt not criticise, but obey!"
Saith the wise, "How may I know their purpose?"
Then acts without wherefore or why.
Stays the fool but one moment to question,
And the chance of his life passeth by.
If ye win through an African jungle,
Unmentioned at home in the Press,
Heed it not; no man seeth the piston,
But it driveth the ship none the less.
Do they growl? It is well: be thou silent,
So that work goeth forward amain;
Lo, the gun throw her shot to a hair's breath
And shouteth, yet none shall complain.
Do they growl and the work be retarded?
It is ill, speak, whatever their rank;
The half-loaded gun also shouteth,
But can she pierce armor with blanks?
Doth the paintwork make war with the funnels?
Do the decks to the cannon complain?
Nay, they know that some soap or a scraper
Unites them as brothers again.
So ye, being Heads of Departments,
Do your growl with a smile on your lips,
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted,
And lessen the might of your ships.
Dost deem that thy vessel needs gilding,
And the dockyard forbear to supply?
Place thy hand in thy pocket and gild her;
There be those who have risen thereby.
Dost think, in a moment of anger,
'Tis well with thy seniors to fight?
They prosper, who burn in the morning,
The letters they wrote overnight;
For some there be, shelved and forgotten,
With nothing to thank for their fate,
Save "That" (on a half-sheet of foolscap),
Which a fool "had the honour to state—."
If the fairway be crowded with shipping,
Beating homeward the harbour to win,
It is meet that, lest any should suffer,
The steamers pass cautiously in;
So thou, when thou nearest promotion,
And the peak that is gilded is nigh,
Give heed to thy words and thine actions,
Lest others be wearied thereby.
It is ill for the winners to worry,
Take thy fate as it comes with a smile,
And when thou art safe in the harbour
They will envy, but may not revile.
Uncharted the rocks that surround thee,
Take heed that the channels thou learn,
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal, the Court-Martial Return.
Though Armour the belt that protects her,
The ship bears the scar on her side;
It is well if the Court shall acquit thee;
It were best hadst thou never been tried.
Moral
As the wave rises clear to the hawse pipe,
Washes aft, and is lost in the wake,
So shall ye drop astern all unheeded,
Such time as the law ye forsake.
Take heed in your manner of speaking
That the language ye use may be sound,
In the list of the words of your choosing
"Impossible" may not be found.
Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and mighty are they,
But the hull and the deck and keel
And the truck of the law is - OBEY!
The poem 'The Old Way', published in November 1917, breathed the very spirit of the great sea tradition of England. This poem indeed is something very much more than topical; it is filled with the life-breath of all that is best in the character of those who go down to the sea in ships - patience, resolution, loyalty, self-discipline and complete sincerity. It ends with a symbolic passage of great beauty, in which the silver trumpets are heard sounding on the other side:
The Old Way
There's a sea that lies uncharted far beyond the setting sun,
And a gallant fleet was sailing there whose fighting days are done,
Sloop and galleon, brig and pinnace, all the rigs you never met,
Fighting frigate, grave three-decker with their snowy canvas set;
Dozed and dreamed, when, on a sudden, ev'ry sail began to swell,
For the Breeze has spoken strangers, with a stirring tale to tell,
And a thousand eager voices flung the challenge out to sea:
"Come they hither in the old way, in the only way that's free?"
And the flying Breeze called softly: "In the old way,
Through the winters and the waters of the North,
They have waited, ah the waiting! in the old way,
Strong and patient, from the Pentlands to the Forth.
There was fog to blind and baffle off the headlands,
There were gales to beat the worst that ever blew,
But they took it, as they found it, in the old way,
And I know it often helped to think of you."
'Twas a frigate, under stun-sails, as she gently gathered way
Spoke in jerks, like all the frigates, who have little time to stay:
"We'd to hurry, under Nelson, thank my timbers I was tough,
For he worked us as he loved us, and he never had enough.
Are the English mad as ever? Were the frigates just as few?
(Will their sheets be always stranding, ere the rigging's rove anew?)
Just as Saxon slow at starting, just as weirdly wont to win?
Had they frigates out and watching? Did they pass the signals in?"
And the laughing Breeze made answer: "In the old way;
You should see the little cruisers spread and fly,
Peering over the horizon, in the old way,
And a seaplane up and wheeling in the sky.
When the wireless snapped 'The enemy is sighted,'
If his accents were comparatively new,
Why, the sailor-men were cheering, in the old way,
So I naturally smiled, and thought of you."
Then a courtly voice and stately from a tall three-decker came -
She'd the manners of a monarch and a story in her name:
"We'd a winter gale at even, and my shrouds are aching yet,
It was more than time for reefing when the upper sails were set.
So we chased in woeful weather, till we closed in failing light,
Then we fought them, as we caught them, just as Hawke had bid us fight;
And we swept the sea by sunrise, clear and free beyond a doubt.
Was it thus the matter ended when the enemy was out?"
Cried the Breeze: "They fought and followed in the old way,
For they raced to make a record all the while,
With a knot to veer and haul on, in the old way,
That had never even met the measured mile -
And the guns were making merry in the twilight.
That the enemy was victor may be true,
Still - he hurried into harbour - in the old way -
And I wondered if he'd ever heard of you."
Came a gruff and choking chuckle, and a craft as black as doom
Lumbered laughing down to leeward, as the bravest gave her room.
"Set 'un blazin', good your Lordships, for the tide be makin' strong,
Proper breeze to fan a fireship, set 'un drivin' out along!
'Tis the 'Torch,' wi' humble duty, from Lord Howard 'board the 'Ark.'
We'm a laughin'-stock to Brixham, but a terror after dark.
Hold an' bilge a-nigh to burstin', pitch and sulphur, tar an' all,
Was it so, my dear, they'm fashioned for my Lord High Admiral?"
Cried the Breeze: "You'd hardly know it from the old way
(Gloriana, did you waken at the fight?).
Stricken shadows, scared and flying in the old way
From the swift destroying spectres of the night,
There were some that steamed and scattered south for safety,
From the mocking western echo 'Where be tu?'
There were some that - got the message - in the old way,
And the flashes in the darkness spoke of you."
There's a wondrous Golden Harbour, far beyond the setting sun,
Where a gallant ship may anchor when her fighting days are done,
Free from tempest, rock and battle, toil and tumult safely o'er,
Where the breezes murmur softly and there's peace for evermore.
They have climbed the last horizon, they are standing in from sea,
And the Pilot makes the Haven where a ship is glad to be.
Comes at last the glorious greeting, strangely new and ages old,
See the sober grey is shining like the Tudor green and gold!
And the waiting jibs are hoisted, in the old way,
As the guns begin to thunder down the line;
Hear the silver trumpets calling, in the old way!
Over all the silken pennons float and shine -
"Did you voyage all unspoken, small and lonely?
Or with fame, the happy fortune of the few?
So you win the Golden Harbour, in the old way,
There's the old sea welcome waiting there for you."
He published several volumes of poetry, most of which had to do with the service and the sea. Naval military academies around the world have adopted his poem "Laws of the Navy" to help instill the right spirit into their cadets.
THE following memoir of Admiral Ronald Hopwood which appeared in "The Times" of the 2nd of January, 1950
“Born on the 7th of December, 1868, he was the third son of the late John Turner Hopwood. Educated at Cheam School, he entered the Britannia as a naval cadet in 1882, and became a lieutenant in 1890. After serving in the gunboat Sparrow on the Cape and West Africa Station, he joined the Excellent in 1891 to specialize in gunnery, and on qualifying in 1893 was appointed to the junior staff in the Cambridge, Devonport gunnery school. He was gunnery officer of the cruiser Blake in the Channel and the battleship Goliath in China, and also served on the senior staff in the Cambridge.
Promoted to commander in 1902 he was executive officer in the Glory, flagship in China, and the cruiser Duke of Edinburgh, and received further advancement to captain in 1907. After commanding the Grafton and Revenge, attached to the Excellent as gunnery training ships, he was Flag Captain from 1910 to 1912 to Vice-Admiral Jellicoe in the Prince of Wales and Hercules, and from 1913 until after war broke out in 1914 commanded the cruiser Gibraltar. He was appointed in December, 1914, a member of the Ordnance Committee, of which he became vice-president in 1917. He served as such until January, 1919, when he retired on promotion to rear admiral. From 1919 to 1922 he was general secretary of the Navy League. His subsequent advancements to vice-admiral in 1924 and admiral in 1928 were on the retired list. He was made a C.B. in January, 1919.
As an author, Admiral Hopwood first became known by his poem " The Laws of the Navy," published about 1895 when he was a lieutenant. Its shrewd common sense and philosophic outlook made it deservedly popular. In later life he wrote " The Old Way," " The Secret of the Ships," and " The New Navy," all of which were steeped in the tradition of the Service.”
The Laws of the Navy originally appeared in the "Army and Navy Gazette", 23 July 1896. The verses after ‘Moral’ were evidently expanded after the 1919 publication date, along with a few other rewordings including a reference to a "Harveyised belt may protect her" in one line which was the state-of-the-art armour in the World War 1 period.
The poem set forth what might safely be termed the "wisdom of the ages" for all who seek to make their way in large, hierarchical organizations, with special emphasis on the seagoing versions. During the World War I era Lieutenant Rowland Langmaid, R.N., made a series of etchings to accompany the poem, which are attached here.
By the mid-1920s, the virtues of "The Laws of the Navy" began to appear in the U.S. Naval Academy's "Reef Points", a little handbook presented to Plebes ("Freshmen" to those unversed in things U.S. Navy) for their edification and guidance. It has been featured in the annual editions of this publication up to the present day, and many a hoary former Plebe can recite its words by heart, having been made to memorize them as an essential part of the educational process. Starting in the early 1970s, "Reef Points" provided a brief introduction to "The Laws of the Navy", which is quoted here (as printed in the 1998-1999 edition) for the benefit of All Hands:
"As a word of advice, we include 'The Laws of the Navy' by Admiral R.A. Hopwood, R.N.(ret.). These twenty-seven laws contain words of wisdom that few of you will appreciate fully now, words which you may wish you had heeded twenty years from now. Read these laws, then apply them. See how those above you apply these rules--and how they sometimes disregard them--and the consequences. Be alert to learn from others; only through experience will your understanding of others broaden. You will become a richer and fuller person, a better naval officer."
Laws of the Navy
Now these are Laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
And he that is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea;
As naught may outrun the destroyer,
Even so with the law and its grip,
For the strength of the ship is the Service,
And the strength of the Service, the ship.
Take heed what ye say of your Rulers,
Be your words spoken softly or plain,
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter,
And so ye shall hear it again.
If ye labor from morn until even,
And meet with reproof for your toil,
It is well – that the gun may be humbled,
The compressor must check the recoil.
On the strength of one link in the cable
Dependeth the might of the chain;
Who knows when thou mayest be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!
When the ship that is tired returneth,
With the signs of the sea showing plain,
Men place her in dock for a season,
And her speed she reneweth again.
So shall thou, lest, perchance, thou grow weary
In the uttermost parts of the sea,
Pray for leave, for the good of the Service
As much and as oft as may be.
Count not upon certain promotion,
But rather to gain it aspire;
Though the sight-line shall end on the target,
There cometh, perchance, a miss-fire.
Can'st follow the track of the dolphin
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where Leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his home?
Even so with the words of thy Rulers,
And the orders those words shall convey.
Every law is as naught beside this one—
"Thou shalt not criticise, but obey!"
Saith the wise, "How may I know their purpose?"
Then acts without wherefore or why.
Stays the fool but one moment to question,
And the chance of his life passeth by.
If ye win through an African jungle,
Unmentioned at home in the Press,
Heed it not; no man seeth the piston,
But it driveth the ship none the less.
Do they growl? It is well: be thou silent,
So that work goeth forward amain;
Lo, the gun throw her shot to a hair's breath
And shouteth, yet none shall complain.
Do they growl and the work be retarded?
It is ill, speak, whatever their rank;
The half-loaded gun also shouteth,
But can she pierce armor with blanks?
Doth the paintwork make war with the funnels?
Do the decks to the cannon complain?
Nay, they know that some soap or a scraper
Unites them as brothers again.
So ye, being Heads of Departments,
Do your growl with a smile on your lips,
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted,
And lessen the might of your ships.
Dost deem that thy vessel needs gilding,
And the dockyard forbear to supply?
Place thy hand in thy pocket and gild her;
There be those who have risen thereby.
Dost think, in a moment of anger,
'Tis well with thy seniors to fight?
They prosper, who burn in the morning,
The letters they wrote overnight;
For some there be, shelved and forgotten,
With nothing to thank for their fate,
Save "That" (on a half-sheet of foolscap),
Which a fool "had the honour to state—."
If the fairway be crowded with shipping,
Beating homeward the harbour to win,
It is meet that, lest any should suffer,
The steamers pass cautiously in;
So thou, when thou nearest promotion,
And the peak that is gilded is nigh,
Give heed to thy words and thine actions,
Lest others be wearied thereby.
It is ill for the winners to worry,
Take thy fate as it comes with a smile,
And when thou art safe in the harbour
They will envy, but may not revile.
Uncharted the rocks that surround thee,
Take heed that the channels thou learn,
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal, the Court-Martial Return.
Though Armour the belt that protects her,
The ship bears the scar on her side;
It is well if the Court shall acquit thee;
It were best hadst thou never been tried.
Moral
As the wave rises clear to the hawse pipe,
Washes aft, and is lost in the wake,
So shall ye drop astern all unheeded,
Such time as the law ye forsake.
Take heed in your manner of speaking
That the language ye use may be sound,
In the list of the words of your choosing
"Impossible" may not be found.
Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and mighty are they,
But the hull and the deck and keel
And the truck of the law is - OBEY!
The poem 'The Old Way', published in November 1917, breathed the very spirit of the great sea tradition of England. This poem indeed is something very much more than topical; it is filled with the life-breath of all that is best in the character of those who go down to the sea in ships - patience, resolution, loyalty, self-discipline and complete sincerity. It ends with a symbolic passage of great beauty, in which the silver trumpets are heard sounding on the other side:
The Old Way
There's a sea that lies uncharted far beyond the setting sun,
And a gallant fleet was sailing there whose fighting days are done,
Sloop and galleon, brig and pinnace, all the rigs you never met,
Fighting frigate, grave three-decker with their snowy canvas set;
Dozed and dreamed, when, on a sudden, ev'ry sail began to swell,
For the Breeze has spoken strangers, with a stirring tale to tell,
And a thousand eager voices flung the challenge out to sea:
"Come they hither in the old way, in the only way that's free?"
And the flying Breeze called softly: "In the old way,
Through the winters and the waters of the North,
They have waited, ah the waiting! in the old way,
Strong and patient, from the Pentlands to the Forth.
There was fog to blind and baffle off the headlands,
There were gales to beat the worst that ever blew,
But they took it, as they found it, in the old way,
And I know it often helped to think of you."
'Twas a frigate, under stun-sails, as she gently gathered way
Spoke in jerks, like all the frigates, who have little time to stay:
"We'd to hurry, under Nelson, thank my timbers I was tough,
For he worked us as he loved us, and he never had enough.
Are the English mad as ever? Were the frigates just as few?
(Will their sheets be always stranding, ere the rigging's rove anew?)
Just as Saxon slow at starting, just as weirdly wont to win?
Had they frigates out and watching? Did they pass the signals in?"
And the laughing Breeze made answer: "In the old way;
You should see the little cruisers spread and fly,
Peering over the horizon, in the old way,
And a seaplane up and wheeling in the sky.
When the wireless snapped 'The enemy is sighted,'
If his accents were comparatively new,
Why, the sailor-men were cheering, in the old way,
So I naturally smiled, and thought of you."
Then a courtly voice and stately from a tall three-decker came -
She'd the manners of a monarch and a story in her name:
"We'd a winter gale at even, and my shrouds are aching yet,
It was more than time for reefing when the upper sails were set.
So we chased in woeful weather, till we closed in failing light,
Then we fought them, as we caught them, just as Hawke had bid us fight;
And we swept the sea by sunrise, clear and free beyond a doubt.
Was it thus the matter ended when the enemy was out?"
Cried the Breeze: "They fought and followed in the old way,
For they raced to make a record all the while,
With a knot to veer and haul on, in the old way,
That had never even met the measured mile -
And the guns were making merry in the twilight.
That the enemy was victor may be true,
Still - he hurried into harbour - in the old way -
And I wondered if he'd ever heard of you."
Came a gruff and choking chuckle, and a craft as black as doom
Lumbered laughing down to leeward, as the bravest gave her room.
"Set 'un blazin', good your Lordships, for the tide be makin' strong,
Proper breeze to fan a fireship, set 'un drivin' out along!
'Tis the 'Torch,' wi' humble duty, from Lord Howard 'board the 'Ark.'
We'm a laughin'-stock to Brixham, but a terror after dark.
Hold an' bilge a-nigh to burstin', pitch and sulphur, tar an' all,
Was it so, my dear, they'm fashioned for my Lord High Admiral?"
Cried the Breeze: "You'd hardly know it from the old way
(Gloriana, did you waken at the fight?).
Stricken shadows, scared and flying in the old way
From the swift destroying spectres of the night,
There were some that steamed and scattered south for safety,
From the mocking western echo 'Where be tu?'
There were some that - got the message - in the old way,
And the flashes in the darkness spoke of you."
There's a wondrous Golden Harbour, far beyond the setting sun,
Where a gallant ship may anchor when her fighting days are done,
Free from tempest, rock and battle, toil and tumult safely o'er,
Where the breezes murmur softly and there's peace for evermore.
They have climbed the last horizon, they are standing in from sea,
And the Pilot makes the Haven where a ship is glad to be.
Comes at last the glorious greeting, strangely new and ages old,
See the sober grey is shining like the Tudor green and gold!
And the waiting jibs are hoisted, in the old way,
As the guns begin to thunder down the line;
Hear the silver trumpets calling, in the old way!
Over all the silken pennons float and shine -
"Did you voyage all unspoken, small and lonely?
Or with fame, the happy fortune of the few?
So you win the Golden Harbour, in the old way,
There's the old sea welcome waiting there for you."