Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Manufactories, Military Technology, Animal Behaviour

People mentioned:

John Laird

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy

    Describes his observations of iron-clad rams docked at Birkenhead, rams that 'never were fed on hay', whose coats were made of iron, whose 'horns' were made of steel, whose 'trotters were under water, / Like the mail-clad Warrior's keel', and whose tails were screw propellers. Identifies the rams as the El Tousson and the El Monastir, twin vessels built for the Confederate states, but seized by the British government in October 1863; notes that they are to be closely attended by 'a British man-of-war'.