Anchors Aweigh

Anchors Aweigh is the tune a quayside band plays as the RMS Berengaria prepares to sail. Heard amid the crowd’s farewell, it marks the departure and accompanies a moment of sudden personal significance for the narrator.

The Song at Departure

The ship’s deck is lined with people, some holding champagne glasses, while the band plays Anchors Aweigh from the quay. As the ship’s siren sounds and the ropes are being released, the narrator spots Darcy O’Mara pushing through the crowd near the last gangway. The song belongs to the public ceremony of departure; the glimpse of Darcy makes the moment private and urgent.

Narrative Function

The tune accompanies a threshold moment: the RMS Berengaria is beginning to pull away, and the narrator’s recognition of Darcy briefly redirects attention from the spectacle of the sailing to the possibility that he might come aboard. A second blast of the siren drowns out the narrator’s call, and smoke obscures him. The band’s music thus frames a farewell in progress while the encounter the narrator hopes for remains unresolved.