| Description | Several versions of much re-worked poem known variously as 'The Water Sprite', 'The Abode of the Water Sprite: A Memory of the Minches', 'A Destroyer in the Western Isles' and 'A Destroyer in the Western Isles: A Memory of the Minches.'
The earliest versions of the poem appear to have been written by Lockhart in 1916 whilst surgeon probationer on HMS Garth Castle and on HMS Pellew. It was published in the 'Glasgow Herald' in 1919, as 'The Water Sprite', but was apparently re-worked and improved by Lockhart several times since.
'The Abode of the Water Sprite: A Memory of the Minches', HMS Garth Castle, 29 November 1916: two handwritten copies, one being sub-titled 'And of the Lay of the Lovely Rosabelle.'
'The Water Sprite' H.M.S. Pellew, 'Threading the Hebrides, Winter 1916': three typescript copies carrying minor annotations.
'A Destroyer in the Western Isles': one handwritten copy, signed Robert Lockhart 1916, presumed to have been written on board HMS Pellew.
'A Destroyer in the Western Isles: A Memory of the Minches', HMS Pellew, 1916: three typescript copies, annotated by Lockhart and his executor |