Her silent body, slim and gray,
Hangs grimly off the bar,
Then, like a wraith, she slips away,
Through mist to ports afar.
She tells not where her course may lie,
Nor cares what perils be,
She goes, nor ever questions why--
The watchdog of the sea.
She plows alike through light and dark,
She scents the far wind’s breath;
Only at foemen does she bark,
And then her bark is death.
She keeps our coasts from every threat,
Guards home and liberty;
Her courage has not failed us yet--
The watchdog of the sea.