"Anchor's Aweigh" | MARITIME MUSINGS
- Thomas Wing
- May 21
- 8 min read
May 2026
"Anchor's aweigh, my boys, anchors aweigh. "
Words and phrases (and now songs) that you've heard but didn't know they originated at sea ...
"Anchor's Aweigh"
Sometime in 1905 or 1906, a midshipman at the US Naval Academy by the name of Alfred Hart Miles wrote a poem in support of Navy football against the Army team at West Point. In 1906, Academy Bandmaster Lieutenant Charles A. Zimmerman wrote the tune around the lyrics. The song was adopted around the fleet over the years, though George D. Lottman wrote new lyrics to make it more Navy-wide than Academy football specific.
Over the years, more changes have been made to the song, most notably to remove references to drinking…..
Original Lyrics:
Stand Navy down the field, sails set to the sky.
We’ll never change our course, so Army you steer shy-y-y.
Roll up the score, Navy. Anchor’s aweigh!
Sail Navy down the field and sink the Army, sink the Army Grey!
Get underway, Navy. Decks cleared for the fray.
We’ll hoist true Navy Blue, so Army down your Grey-y-y.
Full speed ahead, Navy. Army heave to.
Furl Black and Grey and Gold and hoist the Navy, hoist the Navy, Blue!
My favorite, though it’s been changed since.
Stand Navy out to sea, fight our battle cry.We'll never change our course, so vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y.Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh.Sail on to victory and sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!
Anchors aweigh, my boys, anchors aweigh.Farewell to foreign shores, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.Through our last night ashore, drink to the foam,Until we meet once more here's wishing you a happy voyage home.
Blue of the mighty deep. Gold of God's great sun.Let these our colors be till all of time be done, done, done, done.On seven seas we learn Navy's stern call.Faith, courage, service true, with honor, over honor, over all
Why is the anchor “aweigh?” That’s a story for another time……
Friends' Books
I attended BookCon in New York City last month. Despite having been told what the makeup of the audience was (92% female, and more than 80% seeking/reading fantasy/sci-fi/romantasy, or romance), I sold a record number (for me) of books, even running out of paperback copies of Against All Enemies. I had obtained Acorn Publishing’s permission to coordinate a booth for other Acorn authors, as well as myself, so here’s to the other authors. All hands had a good weekend!
Monica Broussard is the author the 21 Tattoos series, which explores themes of personal transformation, faith, and redemption. In the series, Dr. Derek Hollinger, a successful plastic surgeon, is thrust into a mysterious journey when tattoos begin appearing on his body, each linked to his deepest fears and unresolved past. As Derek uncovers the meaning behind the tattoos, he is forced to confront his inner demons and embark on a path of self-discovery and healing.
Caila Klaiss is the author of Kennedy Sloane Gets Scooped. On a rainy Manhattan afternoon, career-obsessed writer and news producer Kennedy loses the interview that was guaranteed to catapult her to senior producer status. Hours later, revered and feared book editor Muffin Evans, aka the Manuscript Eater, shelves the publication of her promising debut novel.
Over a night of tears and too many glasses of wine, Kennedy responds to an internet ad for a villa on the picturesque island of Hilton Head. She books a five-week “hiatus from life,” to focus on herself, free from distractions.
However, soon after arriving on the island, J.P. Long catches Kennedy’s hesitant eye. Despite a series of serendipitous encounters around the romantic oasis, Kennedy knows there’s no room in her life for a charming professional golfer turned businessman who is battling his own personal and professional insecurities.
But maybe he’s worth the trouble.
If there’s one thing Kennedy’s learned, it’s that life rarely happens as expected, and sometimes, the best stories unfold when you stop chasing the perfect headline.
Lynn Jackson is the author of Unexpected Detour, a novel of the home front during World War II.
When bombs fall on Pearl Harbor, the trajectory of Faye Baxter’s midwestern life takes an unexpected detour. Her fiancé Steve Connor enlists in the Army, and Faye follows him to California for a spur-of-the-moment wedding just days before he ships out. Eager to contribute to the war effort, Faye joins the workforce in San Francisco, a city awash with jobs, handsome soldiers, cheap cocktails, and nefarious secrets. When she is recruited to serve as a courier for a government intelligence agency, the assignment leads her into a web of misogyny, deception, and espionage. Will she learn to trust her instincts, value her own opinions, and raise her voice against injustice? Or are the risks too great?
Janell Strube penned Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution.
In a world where women are seen but rarely heard, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard refuses to be silenced.
The daughter of Parisian shopkeepers, Adélaïde dreams not of marriage or titles but of earning a place among the masters of French art. With Queen Marie Antoinette on the throne and a spirit of change in the air, anything seems possible. But as revolution brews and powerful forces conspire to deny her success, Adélaïde faces an impossible choice: protect her life—or fight for a legacy that will outlast her.
Inspired by the true story of one of the first women admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution is a sweeping, evocative portrait of ambition, courage, and resilience in the face of history’s fiercest storm.
Finally, Catherine Hughes is the author of Therein Lies the Pearl.
In this sweeping epic that spans the years before and after the Norman Conquest, two women from opposite sides of the English Channel whisper across the chasm of time to tell their story of the tumultuous days that eventually changed the course of history. As Celia and Margaret struggle to survive in a world marked by danger, loss, and betrayal, their lives intersect. Soon, the Norman girl and the Saxon princess come to realize they are both searching for the same thing–someone they can trust amidst the treachery that surrounds them.
Together, their voices form a narrative never before told.
Last but not least, Laura Rader was represented by her daughter, Emily, selling her first book, Hatfield 1677, which I discussed in my last blog.
It was a pleasure and an honor to share a booth with these fine authors! I hope they’ll come back next year!
Books, books, books!
Award announcement! In Harm’s Way was awarded First Place in the Goethe Award program for post-1750s Historical Fiction by the Chanticleer International Book Awards! It successfully competed against dozens of other stories and was judged worthy. There are 1.3 million books published every year in North America. I know there are hundreds of award programs, but the fact that my books garner multiple awards where they compete against different sets of nominees is humbling. It also speaks to the quality of editing Laura Taylor provides, and the quality of the books themselves that Acorn Publishing ensures. Thank you to the entire team that makes my books possible!!
As Perilous Shores makes its way through the publishing process, the release date, 13 June, by Acorn Publishing, is somewhat at risk, but Acorn is doing everything possible to meet the date. As of today, the manuscript in its master form is with the formatter. After that, we’ll have files we can upload and use to print Advance Reader Copies (ARC). That’s when it all becomes real! The ARCs get sent to folks who provide editorial reviews, as well as to award programs. Shortly after the ARCs go out, it goes on pre-sale, then goes live about two weeks later. If you’d like to be an Advance Reader, contact me; my e-mail is below. I’ll happily send you an ARC as soon as they are ready. BUT, you MUST agree to write a review and post it online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, GoodReads, NetGalley, and BookSprout websites. Come on, it’s easy! A review needs only two things. The “star rating,” one to five stars, and…. Oh, that’s it! You don’t HAVE to write anything…though I’d appreciate it if you did. Honesty is desired, too. If you hate it, let me know why. If it was “meh” tell me that, too. But if you loved it, gush about it. Just kidding. You can seriously get away with just writing “I loved/hated it.” And, you don’t have to write a different review for each site. Write one review, then paste it to each site. That’s perfectly fine!
Treadnought is in first draft form! I’m letting it “marinate” for a few weeks. In the meantime, I’m working on different things while making notes for when I dive back in and do my revisions and self-edits on Treadnought. It came in at 99,985 words, so I will need to reduce what’s there at the same time as I add new scenes that have occurred to me during the marination process. I’m still on track to give it to Laura Taylor for editing on 1 July. That would see it released about January or February of next year.
What’s after that, you ask?
I will continue working on Three Brothers (working title), the novel(s) inspired by my dad’s and two of my uncles’ service during World War II. I’ll be querying for an agent for this book(s) to see if any larger publisher might be interested. I love Acorn! But there’s still a small part of me would like a larger publisher to pick this one up. Why do you keep adding the (s)? Because I don’t know if Three Brothers will be a single volume or a duology. I’ve written 92,000 words already, and I’m only up to summer 1943! While I’m certain there’s stuff there that can be cut, I question my ability to tell what are really the stories of three men during the war in a single 95,000 word novel. At least, not without skipping important events!
And, I’m starting to think about where the Hawke family goes. William is the next to carry forward the legacy of service to our nation, in the Quasi-War with France. I’ve got some ideas on what will happen to him. We shall see!
Enough book news!
You can buy signed copies of any of my books here
Unsigned copies are available online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Books, and GoodReads.
An audio version of Against All Enemies is available at Audible.com and Apple Books!
You can also buy copies of Phobia!, which is an anthology that includes a short story I wrote. Phobia! Is available at all the same online sellers, and there’s now an audio version, as well.
Reminders and Events!
Check my website for a book signing near you.
The Annapolis Book Festival went really well on 2 May, where I was a panelist. The panel was titled “Naval Thrillers: Adventures and Battles on the High Seas,” and was moderated by Benjamin (BJ) Armstrong, Associate Professor of War Studies and Naval History at the US Naval Academy. My fellow writer on the panel as Jack Bartley, author of a number of books, the most recent of which is a memoir of his time in the Navy, Smoke on the Water. BJ asked us questions which when answered became discussions. We also got really good questions from the audience, and as always, I met really nice folks!
Next, I’ll be a panelist at the Imaginarium Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, 16-19 July. And I’m available to speak to groups, and book clubs, as well.
I’ve got signings in San Diego over the summer, including (hopefully) a book launch for Perilous Shores aboard HMS Rose/Surprise at the San Diego Maritime Museum in June. Then it’s back to the east coast for the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday, 27 September (please note the date change), and a signing at Turn the Page Books in Williamsburg, VA, on Saturday, 3 October (also a date change). After that is a signing at the Barnes and Noble in Woodbridge, Virginia on 10 October, and we’re working on a signing at the Barnes and Noble in Manassas, Virginia around the same time frame.
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