If you meet a vessel in distress

AKA Stand by
First Published 1906
Writer/composer RP Weston Roud RN5375

Music Hall Performers Ian Colquhoun
Folk performances Source Singers
Doughty, Johnny 1977 England : Sussex		 

From sheet music held by the British Music Hall Society
Standing on an ocean liner, gazing o'er the stormy sea
The Captain saw in a blinding gale 
A ship in distress bearing but a rag of sail
"Standby! Lads" he gave the order"
"Standby! Till the storm has passed"
For I'll have you know, many years ago,
When a lad before the mast,
My captain always said to me, 
"This is the rule, my lad at sea:"

If you should meet with a vessel in distress, 
Stand by! Stand by!
Render all the aid you can,
Be he Man-o’-war or Merchantman
Sail right up and throw him out a line,
Take him in tow,
For you might want somebody to stand by you 
Some day, you never know!

All of you vessels sailing, sailing o'er the seas of life, 
And in the storm or in the calm sublime, 
Your heart is the crew and the captain all the time; 
So if sinking ships should hail you 
Standby! For you must confess,
Though he flies no flag
Every tattered rag 
Is a signal of distress; 
He'll make the harbour safe, no doubt, 
If you will help him so launch out.

In 1906 RP Weston published this short song titled If you meet a vessel in distress or Stand by. Killgariff has a song of the same name being sung by Ian Colquhoun a singer active in the late 1890s and early 1900s who specialised in straight (i.e. non-comic) patriotic songs.

The melody and words of Weston’s chorus are almost identical to a fragment collected by Mike Yates from the singing of Johnny Doughty, who remembered it being sung by Hastings lifeboatmen. It’s certainly a song associated with Hastings, as since World War II the chorus been sung as the official song of The Winkle Club, a charitable organisation of Hastings fishermen.

I can’t find any evidence that the song goes back any further the 1906. It’s possible that Weston was reusing an older chorus, but I think the balance of probability is that both Johnny Doughty and the members of the Winkle Club got this song directly or indirectly from the Halls.

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