<P> I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, </P> <P> And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking . </P> <P> In The Collected Poems of John Masefield the opening line was changed to the text now more commonly anthologised: "I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky". The first lines of the second and third stanzas retained the form "I must down to the seas again (...)". </P> <P> "Cargoes" first appeared in Ballads--Masefield's second volume of poetry, published in 1903 in London by Elkin Mathews . </P>

Who wrote the poem i must go down to the sea again