Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Alas, not since the days of Drake, Nelson and Cook has this truly been the case.

Brunel made a good fist of it with his ironclads but, for 100 years, it has been more peril on the seas than a life on the ocean waves.

But wait. British Sea Power is in the ascendancy once more.

A group of young eccentrics from Brighton have spliced the main brace, hoisted the Red Ensign and set forth for the Spanish Main with a booty of top songs and a live show to give Captain Blood the willies.

British Sea Power, the band, docked in their home port on Monday and, frankly, the whole thing went swimmingly.

With an album The Decline Of British Sea Power in the shops and a new double-A side single to join it, they were in a mood to enjoy themselves.

The crowd was already buoyed by local acts The Tenderfoot and The Brakes, the latter a punk offshoot of the Electric Soft Parade, when BSP arrived and cut through the vegetation bedecking the stage with a cutlass of uplifting noise.

At times Bowie, at others The Jam, BSP were as polished as a ship's bell and rocked like a tugboat rounding Cape Horn.

The boys have gained admirers in high places, including Jo Whiley on Radio 1 and Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 but they clearly relished being among the familiar deck-swabbers and old Sussex seadogs.

Surprisingly, and particularly so for an act whose regular newsletters are always witty and welcoming, there was no banter with the crowd. Not even a hello, thanks or goodbye.

But somehow it wasn't needed. They came, they saw, they fired their salvo and they left. Job done.

The set included a swashbuckling version of Remember Me, which sounded even better than the album.

But the highlight was the rip-roaring finale. A swell of keyboards and guitars, branch-waving and drum-wearing made for a truly cacophonous hullabaloo. Fantastic.

It was also a refreshing change from the bland, manufactured pop taking the stage at the previous day's Party In The Park.

It proved, despite the best efforts of pop svengalis Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller, Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.