The Riddle of the Sands

The ship was en route
To the fair Isle of Jute,
With its three thousand tons of cement.
It was not very far
From the town of Stranraer
When the storm stuck with savage intent.

All the steering was lost,
And the ship turned and tossed
And was carried right up to the strand.
The lifeboatmen flew
Out and rescued the crew,
But the ship still careered towards land.

Then its death knell was tolled
As a rock pierced its hold,
And the gallant old boat split in two.
The strong current shifted,
The cargo then drifted
Away on the ocean so blue.

It floated away
Round to old Galloway
Where it washed up right onto the shore,
The cement and the sand
Mixed fortuitously and
They made concrete like never before.

And that is the reason
Why, late in the season,
The Galloway townsfolk discovered
A massive car park
Had been built in the dark,
And their beautiful beach had been covered.