Come sail the telescope tunnel
From Greenwich to Canning Town
Where the white surf of the Blackwall
Is twenty fathoms down.

Climb up to my crow’s nest classroom
And meet my raffish crew
Apprenticed all to Pirate’s Lore,
Eye-patch o’er navy blue.

Where the cross-bones mark the blackboard
And the sharks all bask below,
We’ll walk the plank to tease them
In the place where breezes blow.

But carry a trusty cutlass,
Be ready to ride the swell,
For the Royal Navy’s ensign
Is a flag we know right well.

They’ll do their best to sink us,
Or clap us all in chains,
So keep your wits about you
And see they make no gains.

‘Til, many a ‘berg well skirted,
And many a skirmish won,
We’ll sail the Dock road home again,
Into the setting sun.