THE LAWS OF THE NAVY
by Admiral R.A. Hopwood, RN (Retired)
Now these are the 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 seniors,
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 labour from morn until even’
And meet with reproof
for your toil,
It is well - that the guns be humbled
-
The compressor must
check the recoil.
On the strength of one link of 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 end on the target,
There cometh, perchance,
a miss-fire.
If ye win through an Arctic ice floe,
Unmentioned at home
in the press,
Heed it not - no man seeth the piston,
But it driveth the
ship none-the-less.
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 seniors,
And the orders those
words shall convey.
Every law is as naught beside this one -
“Thou shalt not
criticize, 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.
Do they growl? It is well: be
thou silent,
So that work goeth
forward amain;
Lo, the gun throws her shot to a hair’s breadth
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
armour with blank?
Doth the funnels make war with the paintwork?
Do the decks to
the cannon complain?
Nay - they know that some soap and
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 ship.
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 - -.”
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.
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
Courts-Martial Return.
Though Armour, the belt that protects her,
The ship bears the
scar on her side
It is well if the court acquit thee,
It were best hadst
thou never been tried.
Now these are the 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 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.
Now these are the laws of the Navy,
And many and mighty
are they,
But the hull and the deck and the keel
And the truck of
the law is - OBEY!
Admiral Hopwood’s “Laws of the Navy” was
first published in a British periodical on
23 July 1898. Well known throughout
the Navy,
it has appeared in the United States Naval
Academy’s
“Reef Points” for a number of years.