ETERNAL FATHER,
STRONG TO SAVE
(The Navy Hymn)
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless
wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters
heard
And hushed their raging at Thy
Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst
sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion,
peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in
danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and
foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land
and sea.
Alternate verses:
Lord, guard and guide the men who
fly
Though the great spaces in the
sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight
fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our
prayer,
For those in peril in the air!
Aloft in solitudes of space,
Uphold them with Thy saving
grace.
Thou Who supports with tender
might
The balanced birds in all their
flight.
Lord, if the tempered winds be
near,
That, having Thee, they know no
fear.
Mary C. D. Hamilton (1915)
Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch over the men who guard our
coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and
peace.
Grant them from Thy great throne
above
The shield and shelter of Thy
love.
Author unknown
God, Who dost still the restless
foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always
be
By Thine own grace both safe and
free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.
Hugh Taylor (date unknown)
O Father, King of earth and sea,
We dedicate this ship to Thee.
In faith we send her on her way;
In faith to Thee we humbly pray:
O hear from heaven our
sailor’s cry
And watch and guard her from on
high!
Author/date unknown
And when at length her course is
run,
Her work for home and country
done,
Of all the souls that in her
sailed
Let not one life in Thee have
failed;
But hear from heaven our
sailor’s cry,
And grant eternal life on high!
Author/date unknown
Words: William Whiting, 1860. He
wrote the lyrics as a poem for a
student about to sail for
America.
Music: Melita, John B. Dykes,
1860 (MIDI, score). Dykes
fittingly named the tune after a
locale associated with a Biblical
shipwreck. Melita was the island
the Apostle Paul reached after
his ship went down (Acts 28:1);
today we know it as the isle of
Malta.
In America, Eternal Father is
often called the Navy Hymn,
because it is sung at the Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
It is also sung on ships of the
British Royal Navy and has been
translated into French. It was
the favorite hymn of U.S.
President Franklin Roosevelt and
was sung at his funeral in Hyde
Park, New York, April 1945. The
Navy Band played it in 1963 as
U.S. President John
Kennedy’s body was carried
up the steps of the U.S. Capitol
to lie in state. Roosevelt served
as Secretary of the Navy and
Kennedy was a PT boat commander
in World War II.
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