We have fed our sea for a thousand years
And she calls still unfed
Tho' there's never a wave of all her waves
But marks our English dead
We have strewed our best to the weeds unrest
To the shark and the sheering gull

If blood be the price of admiralty
Lord God, we have paid in full

There's never a flood goes shoreward now
But lifts a keel we manned
There's never an ebb goes seaward now
But drops our dead on the sand
But slinks our dead on the sand forlorn
From the Dulcies to the Swin

If blood be the price of admiralty
If blood be the price of admiralty
Lord God, we have paid in full

We must feed our sea for a thousand years
For that is our doom and pride
As it was when they sailed with the Golden Hind
Or the wreck that struck last tide
Or the wreck that lies on the spouting reef
Where the ghastly blue lights flare

If blood be the price of admiralty
If blood be the price of admiralty
If blood be the price of admiralty
Lord God, we have paid in full