Deep Thoughts – A Review by Barrie Downer

It is good to see a new book – “Deep Thoughts -A Submariner’s Time in Rhyme” – a collection of Submarine related poetry. Such books don’t come around very often! I’m sure that not too many people (especially Submariners) ever think of their Submariner friends and colleagues as, and might be somewhat surprised to know, they are poets!

The last such book I am aware of – and possibly the only other one around – is “Voices from the Deep – Submarine Poetry – an Anthology” – a collection put together by the Submariners Association under the guidance of the, then, Association Chairman Dave Barlow and with a Foreword by the late Admiral of the Fleet the Lord Boyce.

That Anthology was put together some twenty years ago for Association Members to make sure that the many poems that had been written in the past were not lost to the collective memory but could also be used to raise funds for the benefit of the Association. Some of the poems collected at that time dated back to the early years of the 20th Century and some had been written by Submariners in times of peace but many others in times of war.

So this new Anthology is a little different in that it is not a collection of poems from several different poets/authors but is essentially the work of one man – David Parry. David is well known as the author of works on the development of submarine weapons systems and on the history of the ‘Perisher’ – the Submarine Commanding Officers Qualifying Course. There are some similarities in David’s book in that the themes of some of his poems include variations of well-known or traditional poems and songs.

Other poems are entirely new but nearly all include touches of the Submariner’s peculiar brand of humour. There are references to Submarines operating overseas in Australia and Canada – for example – as well as at home but all cover nautical and naval matters and subjects familiar to all Submariners – both past & present.

David Parry’s book, which is very timely – this year being the 125^th Anniversary year of the Royal Navy Submarine Service, benefits from a foreword by submariner Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope.  Sales will benefit both the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport and the Holbrook Submarine Museum in New South Wales, Australia so all are encouraged to dig deep and buy a copy!

Deep Thoughts – A Submariner’s Time in Rhyme is recommended reading for all Submariners, both veterans and those still serving and will, hopefully, encourage today’s Submariners to put their thinking caps on and pens to paper – or should that be fingers to keyboards?