'The Balaena' -A Whaling Song with old photos from Dundee, Scotland.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- This song, 'The Balaena', is a whaling song from old Dundee (sung here by Lowland Folk) and is taken from a vinyl album I've had for many years. My great grandfather was apparently a whaler from Dundee, but I have no idea if he ever sailed on this 'Balaena'! What I do know is that on one of his trips to Greenland he got iced in for so long that when he got back home he walked in and frightened my great grandmother who, of course, had given up hope for his safe return, and took him for a stranger. If he happened to return today he would (no doubt) be very disappointed to find that this great grandchild is very anti-whaling! But the world & its situations have changed greatly in the last 100 or so years! Anyway, I hope you like this great old song & the visuals.
A lot of good illustrations I haven't seen before. The American whalers were very dismissive of the British whalers, calling them "Plum pudding whalers" as they'd be home for Christmas each year, whereas the American whalers often took three years or more sailing round the world on a whaling cruise. On the other hand the Scottish vessels had engines fitted so they didn't get stuck in the Arctic ice by bad winds, whereas the American fleet lost a number of vessels one bad year.
I think I can go one better than this - my great x7 grandfather was a sailor and DID sail on the Balaena, and what's more he brought back a whole narwhal tusk as a trophy, which my father, also a Dundonian, eventually inherited. I now have a ring set with an offcut of the narwhal ivory, brought all the way back by that relative many years ago. Incidentally, the Balaena apparently did get stuck in the ice, I'm not sure which ship rescued them though or whether they sailed with an engine on board.
I was on whalers that sailed from the Tyne in the 50s we have whales teeth inscribed the Southern Harvester ,Southern Adventurer, Balena, It was for an Norwegian firm called Salvesons. Tough life but nothing like the old sailing days
To msbrown 3333
I attended many folk sessions in the sixties when your parents were performing and have great memories of the folk scene in Dundee when the Lowland Folk Four, Barty's Bow and The Shifters were the top of the bill on the folk music circuit, sadly many of the old singers are no longer with us but it is great to hear the great songs from that time again.
LANG MAY THEIR LUM REEK
Regards
BillH
I saw The Lowland folk Four on two occasions. Both in 1967. Loved them, and have this record album. But since it's travelled around a bit since '68, it is a little worse for wear. A little scratchy now but I still enjoy it.
Chantal, it's great to hear about your ancestor and that you still have a small piece of the whale to remember him by! I wonder if your ancestors & mine ever crossed paths? In the present day I'm actually very anti-whaling , there is absolutely no need for it these days. but we can't deny the past nor the part our forebears played. They must have really needed to do it to earn a living to risk going out in such harsh & dangerous conditions
Thanks for posting your memoir of your ancestor. I sailed into Dundee on a ship carrying jute from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) so have that in common with your G G
Reading whaling literature naturally brings me here! Black oak, tobacco juice, oil, and sweat!
The Balaena was owned by Robert Kinnes, who's company still exists today (in a form), and are still based in Dundee - Kinnes Shipping
Love the commentary under the song and love the song. Thanks so much for uploading.
msbrown...........say hi to your folks from me...hope mum has mastered that recorder..and the auld man still has enough wind to blaw the pipes....
God bless......GD
Great melody, great song
@MrWhanlon Dear Mr. Whanlon, thank you so much for watching this video. Once I get over the traumas (see elsewhere on Gruntlesnoot!) of the end of the 2010 Aussie Rules season, I promise you, I'll get on to it! (But then there's the Ashes series coming up, isn't there?) I tried to match the images to the lyrics as much as I could but sometimes it gets impossible.
Thanks again!
Gruntlesnoot.
Dear Fred,
My great grandfather was a Dundee whaler who apparently did manage to get stuck in the Arctic ice and got given up for dead. Maybe the ship he was on didn't have an engine? I need to find out more about him and see if his name appears on a crew list or something. You seem to no a lot about the old whalers. Maybe you have some pointers regarding how to find out more info about my great grand-dad ? Thanks for your comment
Aye, you've done it again! Some quite beautiful stills there. The man in the barrel and the multimast ship alone reflected in the water are especially noteworthy.
I was last in Dundee around 1985 I think, and think those dock building were all gone by then, probably well before that.. You may be interested to know that the Salford Docks buildings in Greater Manchester, now preserved and renovated, look remarkablt similar.... only ye cannae see then for a muckle great Fatty Arbuckle's!
Dear Boy!
I think I've just seen this comment when I had other reason to check out this partricular video of mine. I think you must have gone on a voyage of your own as haven't heard from you for a while? Mavis sends you her greetings and if you check out the channel page, she is doing some fandangled stuff she calls 'neodynamic art' Talking (or not talking) of Cameron Ling, first day of the new season for the Cats today, so Go Cats!!!
Love, Gruntlesnoot xxxx
Super! Also check out the version done by The Irish Rovers (5*) if you can find it :)
whaling is bad
Still not illegal in Iceland Norway and Japan.
But oil.............