trad
about the West Greenland right whale fishing in the 1820s. The Diamond was lost with several other vessels in 1830, locked in ice in Melville Bay. She sailed from Peterhead in the 1820s and fished for whale in the Davis Strait. Wolfstone pairs it with “The Last Leviathan” which I think is a great contextualization.
Wolfstone: Bonnie Ship the Diamond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwqHZtWnGw
The Diamond is a ship, my lads, for the Davis Strait she’s bound, And the quay it is all garnished with bonny lasses ’round. Captain Thompson gives the order to sail the ocean wide, Where the sun it never sets, my lads, no darkness dims the sky. Chorus: And it’s cheer up my lads, let your hearts never fail, For the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale. Along the quays of Peterhead, the lasses stand around, Their shawls all pulled about them and the salt tears running down. Now don’t you weep, my bonny lass, though you be left behind, For the rose will bloom on Greenland’s ice before we change our mind. Here’s health to the Resolution, likewise the Eliza Swan, Here’s a health to the Battler of Montrose and the Diamond, ship of fame. We wear the trousers of the white, the jackets of the blue, When we return to Peterhead, we’ll have sweethearts anoo O it’ll be bright both day and night when the whaling lads come home, In a ship that’s full of oil, my boys, and money to our name. We’ll make the cradles all to rock and the blankets for to tear, And every lass in Peterhead sing, “Hushabye, my dear.”