Looted fires

Is it real, this Desertion, USS?
Is it real, this desertion? S.O.S.
Is it all they said it'd be
standing guard over looted fires?

We'll talk of omens and curses
and peg-leg gashes
pouring over the ground
with the snow and ashes
Got a two-pound devil
a lonely old vessel
It's all we've got at the end of a plank
standing guard over looted fires