He turned to another favourite naval song:

There happened of late a terrible fray,
Begun upon our St James’s day,
With a thump, thump, thump, thump, thump,
Thump, thump a thump, thump. 

An ape on a rock no great way off three a turd at him, quite unprovoked; and when he half rose in protest it shook its wizened fist and gibbered so furiously that he sank down again, so low were his spirits. 

— Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian