McAndrew's Hymn

1] Kipling prefaced the first publication of this poem, in Scribner’s Magazine (Dec. 1894), with the following note: “And the night we got in, sat up from twelve to four with the chief engineer, who could not get to sleep either … said that the engines made him feel quite poetical at time, and told me things about his past life. He seems a pious old bird; but I wish I had known him earlier in the voyage” (Ralph Durand, A Handbook to the Poetry of Rudyard Kipling [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914]: 88). Back to Line

3] coupler-flange: likely a plate or link to cover a device that joins two pipes (OED, "flange," n., 4, quotation of 1884, "Flange Coupling, a device for connecting pipes at any angle from 0° to 90°"), possibly another name for the "connectin'-rod" below. spindle-guide: a device that stabilizes a revolving rod. Back to Line

4] Renaissance German protestant John Calvin described his doctrine of predestination, proposing (in his Christianæ Religionis Institutio) that God from the very beginning fated every creature to a specific end. Back to Line

8] middle watch: midnight to 4 am. Back to Line

9] race: the increasing rotation of the propeller when, in rough seas, the ships pitches up and down and lifts it out of the water for a time (Durand 89). Back to Line

11] A cross-head is "The bar at the end of the piston-rod of a steam-engine, which slides between straight guides, and communicates the motion to the connecting-rod, etc." (OED) , and gibs are the bolts that hold it snug. Back to Line

12] gied: given. Back to Line

13] full-draught: a plentiful draft of fresh air to the engine burners, made possible by a strong wind. Ushant: an island in the English Channel that belongs to Brittany. Back to Line

15] Ferguson increases the engines speed gradually from 70 to 73 so as to get home to his wife the more quickly. Back to Line

18] Elsie Campbell: the maiden name of McAndrew's beloved, by which customarily the Scottish call a dead married woman. Back to Line

19] Sarah Sands: a ship whose powder magazine partly blew up on the way to India in 1857 but that stayed afloat and made her way to port. “An account of the disaster was contributed by Rudyard Kipline to the 1898 Christmas number of Black and White” (Durand 90). The poem's monologue, then, takes place in 1887. Back to Line

20] Towns surrounding Glasgow. Back to Line

21] ceevil: civil, polite. Back to Line

22] your bilge: Sir Kenneth should say “bilge-water” (what stabilizes the ship at its very bottom). Back to Line

24] auld: old. Fleet Engineer: “The chief of all the engineers employed in the company’s ships” (Durand 90). Back to Line

26] tow: hemp. Back to Line

27] wad: would. Back to Line

29] rig: type of ship. Back to Line

30] loco-boiler: a locomotive engine is "an engine constructed for movement from place to place by its own power (as opposed to ‘stationary’ engine), usually by the generation of steam" (OED, "locomotive"). Back to Line

32] na doot: no doubt. Back to Line

36] Perhaps, "It scowed [crippled?] the captain on his way to jockey [take in, cheat] the saloon ["A large cabin in a passenger-boat for the common use of passengers in general or for those paying first-class fares"; see OED, "saloon"]." Cf. OED, "scow," v. 2: "… in to scow an anchor: on a foul bottom, to bend the cable to the crown and stop it within the ring, so that in weighing the seizing may be broken and the anchor tripped. Hence scowed ppl. a." Back to Line

37] Three feet [of water]. stokehold: the room that holds the ship's boilers. Back to Line

42] Forgie's: forgive us (a part of the Lord's Prayer). Back to Line

44] kittlin': tickling (one another), courting. Back to Line

45] raked: covered, as with gunshot. Back to Line

48] Number Nine: A Japanese port (Durand 91). Back to Line

49] waur: worse. Back to Line

50] wadna: would not. Back to Line

52] blind-fou: blind drunk. Deil: Devil. Back to Line

55] no cargo-steam: no engine to unload the cargo. daunder: stroll. Back to Line

56] ijjit: idiot. Back to Line

58] Chief: Chief Engineer (Durand 91). put overside: put overboard. Back to Line

59] Sambawa Head: “in the Malay Archipelago” (Durand 91). ca': call. Back to Line

60] awa': away. Back to Line

63] mither's: mother's. Back to Line

64] meenisters: ministers. Back to Line

65] Broomielaw: part of Glasgow’s port area. Back to Line

66] fetich: fetish, idol. Back to Line

68] Leevin': Living. Back to Line

69] kipper: cured, like fish, by cleaning, salting, and smoking. Back to Line

75] Matthew 12:24-32 (by interpretation, suicide--an act that in effect denies that the Holy Ghost can save one). Back to Line

78] Third: the third engineer. Back to Line

80] Along the northern coasts of Australia from the Timor sea (south of Dili, Indonesia, and north of Darwin, Australia) to Torres Strait (which separates Papua New Guinea and Turtle Head, Australia). Back to Line

81] Barrier Reef: a shipwreck danger along a thousand miles of Australian Queensland coast. Back to Line

83] tire: fatigue, tiredness. Back to Line

84] "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecclesiastes 6:9). Back to Line

88] carbons: carbon-arc lamps. Back to Line

96] isna: is not. Back to Line

98] As a result, all that would remain of a 6,000-ton ship is a log. Back to Line

100] An unfrequented sea lane at this time (Durand 92). Back to Line

101] your shaft: the shaft of the anchor (OED, "shaft," n.2, 4h). ay, eat it, ere ye're spoke: sure, you have time enough to eat the shaft before another ship signals (speaks to) you. Back to Line

102] jiggers: little sails of little use. Back to Line

104] Steaming to the bell is regulating the engine speed according to orders from the bridge that are conveyed by the ringing of a bell. floe: floating ice. Back to Line

105] bergs: icebergs. kelpies: water spirits. overside: overboard. Girn: snarl (Durand 93). Back to Line

106] Whaur: where. drift: current. Back to Line

107] “Cf. the passage in the Benedicite, ‘O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord: praise Him and magnify Him for ever'” (Durand 93). Back to Line

108] anither kirk: another church. Back to Line

113] tender: the little boat that ferries passengers, crew, and cargo between a ship and wharfside. Back to Line

114] follower-bolts: if loosened, these lead to engine breakdown (but not found in the OED). Back to Line

120] ross: for the French word “rossignol.” Back to Line

122] patty-pans: little frying pans. A steward replacing unusable articles at the end of a voyage will sometimes connive with a supplier to cheat the company by paying for more goods than are received and by splitting the surplus charges between them (Durand 94). Back to Line

125] clink the fire-bars: clog the grate "with `clinkers' or unburnable refuse" (Durand 94). Back to Line

126] Wangarti: in New South Wales, Australia. Back to Line

128] Deeferential Valve-Gear: developed by Henry Davey (1843-1928). Back to Line

131] Apollyon: "the destroyer," the Devil. bairn: a child. Back to Line

138] sweer: swear. Back to Line

143] Viscount loon … Sir Kenneth's kin: unidentified. Back to Line

144] spar-decked: for a "light upper deck in a vessel" (OED). Back to Line

147] throws: cranks. Back to Line

148] Manholin': squeezing down a manhole. Back to Line

152] Robbie Burns: great Scots poet. Back to Line

153] Scotia: Scotland. Back to Line

154] Whaurto: whereto. Back to Line

155] feed-pump: "The engine supplies itself with water by a pump communicating with the hot well, called a feed pump" (OED, "feed," n., 6; quotation from 1839). Back to Line

156] eccentrics: "A circular disc fixed on a revolving shaft, some distance out of centre, working freely in a ring (the eccentric strap), which is attached to a rod called an eccentric rod, by means of which the rotating motion of the shaft is converted into a backward-and-forward motion. Its most frequent use is for working the slide-valve of a steam-engine" (OED, "eccentric," 2). sheaves: grooved wheels. Back to Line

157] link-head: see Alastair Wilson. Back to Line

158] hear that note?: the engineer judges how well his engines are turning over by their sound (Durand 94-95). whings: moves very forcefully. Back to Line

162] at ony tilt: no matter at what angle the ship is pitched by rough seas. Back to Line

164] Mornin' Stars: Job 38:7 (Durand 95). Back to Line

165] thrust-block: "a block supporting a thrust-bearing; the casting or frame carrying or containing the bearings on which the collars of the propeller-shaft press" (OED, "thrust," 8). Back to Line

166] Not unto us the praise: Psalms 115.1 (Durand 95). Back to Line

169] try-pit: "a testing pit for trying new engines" (OED). Back to Line

170] gied: given. Back to Line

171] trip-hammer: "A massive machine-hammer operated by a tripping device, as a wheel with projecting teeth, a cam, or the like, by which it is raised and then allowed to drop; a tilt-hammer" (OED). Back to Line

176] Genesis 1:31 (Durand 95). Back to Line

178] Artifex: maker. Back to Line

179] scale: deposit or incrustation. slip: loss of power, as when the propellers rise out of the water. Back to Line

184] Losh: "Lord!" "Stand-by" bell: a bell that alerts the engineer to be ready to change speed. Back to Line

186] Pelagian" one who believes that "the human will … is the determining factor in the salvation of the individual" (Durand 96). Back to Line

187] McAndrew takes over. Back to Line

188] your good leddy: Mistress Ferguson. Back to Line

Publication Start Year

1894

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2007

Form

couplets