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The Bonny Ship the Diamond

[ Roud 2172 ; G/D 1:11 ; Ballad Index FSWB094 ; DT BDIAMOND ; Mudcat 45251 ; trad.]

Norman Buchan and Peter Hall: The Scottish Folksinger Katherine Campbell, Ewan McVicar: Traditional Scottish Songs & Music Alasdair Clayre: 100 Folk Songs and New Songs John Ord: Bothy Songs and Ballads Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl: The Singing Island Peter Shepheard: Jock Duncan: The Man and His Songs

The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ is a song about the West Greenland right whale fishing in the 1820s.

Ewan MacColl sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 1957 on his and A.L. Lloyd’s Riverside album Thar She Blows! (reissued in the 1960s on the Washington label as Whaling Ballads).

Rory and Alex McEwen sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond on the 1963 Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 28 September 1963.

Nigel Denver sang Bonny Ship the Diamond in 1964 on his eponymous Decca album Nigel Denver. The album’s noted commented:

A tale of the sea, about a ship bound for Greenland on a whaling voyage and its eventual return to Peterhead and …

We’ll make the cradles for to rock,
And the blankets for to tear,
And every lass in Peterhead
Sing hush-a-bye my dear.

The Watersons sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 1965 in their BBC TV documentary, Travelling for a Living:

A.L. Lloyd sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 1967 on his album of ballads and songs of the whaling trade, Leviathan!. He was accompanied by Alf Edwards, English concertina; Dave Swarbrick, fiddle; Martin Carthy, mandolin; and Trevor Lucas and Martyn Wyndham-Read singing chorus. This track was included in 1970 on the Topic Sampler No. 6, Folk Songs: A Collection of Ballads & Broadsides, in 1983 on the French compilation Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais, and in 1993 on the Topic anthology Blow the Man Down. Lloyd noted on the original album:

Sad events lie behind this most spirited of whaling songs. By the 1820s the relativity milder northern waters were fished clean, and whalemen were having to search in more distant corners of the Arctic, notably round the mighty and bitter Melville Bay in Northwest Greenland. In 1830, a fleet of fifty British whaleships reached the grounds in early June, a month before they expected. But the same winds that had helped them also crowded the Bay with ice floes and locked most of the fleet in, including the Diamond, the Resolution, the Rattler (not Battler) of Leigh (not Montrose), and the Eliza Swan. Twenty fine ships were crushed to splinters and many bold whalermen froze or drowned. The Eliza Swan was among those that got free and brought the sad news home. Our song must have been made only a season or two before that tragedy for the Diamond’s maiden voyage was only in 1825. One wonders if the man who made the song was up in Melville Bay, the year of the disaster, and whether he was lost with his ship.

Brian Roberts and Norman Cross sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond live at Folk Union One in 1969. This recording was included in the same year on the privately issued album Blue Bell Folk Song.

The Wayfarers sang Bonny Ship the Diamond in 1970 on their Folk Heritage album Take 2. They noted:

The whaling ship the Diamond was lost with several other vessels in 1830, locked in ice in Melville Bay. She sailed from Peterhead in the 1820s end fished for whale in the Davis Strait.

The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen, with Tom Clancy in lead, sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 1972 on their album Save the Land.

John Roberts sang The Diamond in 1973 on the National Geographic Society’ album Songs & Sounds of the Sea. He also sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 2007 on his Golden Hind CD Sea Fever. He noted:

The Bonny Ship the Diamond is another whaling song, this time from Scotland. This version was popularised by singer, author and folklorist A.L. Lloyd, who collected it in Liverpool in 1937.

The Yetties sang sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond on the 1973 Argo compilation The World of Folk Vol. 2.

Rod Paterson sang The Diamond on The Easy Club’s 1985 album Chance or Design.

Blowzabella sang The ‘Diamond’ in 1988 on their Plant Life album A Richer Dust.

Blackeyed Biddy sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond in 1993 on their Greentrax CD Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure. This track was also included in 2009 on the Greentrax anthology People and Songs of the Sea.

Peter Hall sang The Diamond Ship on the 1995 Greentrax CD of “songs from the Greig-Duncan Collection as performed at the Edinburgh International Festival”, Folk Songs of North-East Scotland.

Louis Killen sang The ‘Diamond’ in 1997 on his CD A Seaman’s Garland. He noted:

[…]Another kind of fishing, that of the great whale, is described in the song, The Diamond. I am grateful to Geordie Proctor for giving me an entirely different rhythmic approach to this song.

Jock Duncan sang The Diamond Ship in 2001 on his Sleepytown CD Tae the Green Woods Gaen. Ronnie Cairns noted:

The Diamond was built in Quebec in 1801 and became part of the Aberdeen whaling fleet in 1812. The ship left on 12 March 1812 and returned to Aberdeen in August with eleven whales. The song celebrates this voyage which was made under Captain Gibbon, a member of the owner’s family. This was Gibbon’s only sailing with the Diamond.

The ship was lost with several others in 1819. Having hoped to increase the catch by staying longer into the season, it became caught in pack ice and the hull crushed flat. The crew survived by using the sails to make tents and by burning the ship’s timber for warmth. They suffered greatly before being rescued and brought home.

The Davis Strait lies between Baffin Island (Canada) and Greenland and forms part of the Northwest Passage, a route through the Canadian Arctic linking the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Jock: Aberdeen was a major port for the whale hunters. About 1815 a song called, The Whalers’ Lamentation mentions 14 boats fae five different companies. But thirty five year later there were 31 ships sailin’ fae Peterheid which wis by then one o’ the main whale blubber ports. The ither main een wis Dundee.

Ewan McVicar and Katherine Campbell sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond in 2001 on the CD accompanying their book Traditional Scottish Songs & Music.

Roger McGuinn sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond in 2001 on his Appleseed CD Treasures From the Folk Den.

German duo Sperris & Wicca sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond on their 2002 CD Polyvonne.

Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden and Graham Metcalfe sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond in 2002 on the Gift of Music CD Sea Shanties.

Shepheard, Spiers & Watson sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 2005 on their Springthyme CD They Smiled As We Cam In. Peter Shepheard noted:

This version of the well known whaling song was learnt from the singing of Peter Hall who may have taken it from the Greig-Duncan manuscripts where there are eight texts with tunes although none is quite the same as this.

The Diamond was built in Québec in 1801 and brought into the Aberdeen fleet in 1812. The Aberdeen Journal of 18 March 1812 reports: “The fine new Ship Diamond, Gibbon [that is, with Captain Gibbon in command] sailed on Thursday last, for the Davis’ Straits Whale Fishery.” When she arrived back in August she had a catch of eleven fish. The ship went on a yearly voyage until 1819 when she was caught in the early autumn ice and lost while staying too late in the season. Fortunately the crew were all saved.

Bob Fox sang Diamond and Eric Bogle’s The Song of the Whale in 2006 on his Topic CD The Blast. He noted:

My Grandfather was called Greenland Fox, he was a miner at Dawdon Colliery for all of the short time I knew him and I always wondered, but could never find out, why that Christian name was in our family. It had also been given to one of my uncles but not to any of the subsequent generations. I recently discovered that it was quite common in the 18^th and 1i^th centuries for men close to the rivers Tyne and Wear to sign on with the whaling companies when times were hard in the coal trade. These people were known as ‘Greenlanders’ and so it seems entirely possible that a member of the Fox family was one of these and the nickname became a Christian name through common usage.

One of the first ships to go whaling from the Tyne in 1753 was ‘The Resolution’, mentioned in The Bonny Ship the Diamond, a traditional song supporting the trade. I have chosen to juxtapose this with Eric Bogle’s The Song of the Whale which reflects my own opinion on the subject. Eric sent me this quote:

Once, a few years ago off the coast of Alaska, I found myself suddenly eyeball to eyeball with a humped back whale. In the brief instant our eyes met I was immediately aware of a mixture of conflicting impressions. Gentleness, curiosity, and, God help me, a recognition, a kinship, a sense of 7 an ancient bond. Many people have felt this same kinship with the greet whales. And yet some of us still slaughter them for that basest of reasons, mere profit…

Ian Bruce sang The Diamond Ship on the DVD of his 2011 “first 30 years” anthology Hits & Pieces. He also sang it with his brother Fraser Bruce on their 2017 album Auld Hat New Heids.

Jim Malcolm sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond on his 2011 CD Sparkling Flash. He noted:

I recorded this song live in Peterhead with Phil Cunningham, Fraser Fifield and Norman Chalmers, for the BBC series ‘Scotland’s Music’ and the YouTube clip was very popular. When it disappeared from YouTube I had many requests to record it myself. So here it is.

Jeff Warner sang Bold Harpooner in 2011 on his WildGoose CD Long Time Travelling. He noted:

Stuart Frank, Curator at the New Bedford (Massachusetts) Whaling Museum, found this song in the papers of George Piper who sailed in the whaler Europa out of Martha’s Vineyard in 1868. An almost identical chorus is quoted in Moby Dick, chapter 40:

So be cheery my lads! Let your hearts never fail
While the bold harpooner is striking the whale!

A.L. Lloyd’s singing of The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ was sampled on Walking With Ghosts’ 2011 album Fresh Handmade Sound: From Source to Sea.

The Ballina Whalers sang The Diamond in 2012 on their EP Lowlands.

Alistair Ogilvy sang Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 2012 on his Greentrax CD Leaves Sae Green. He noted:

A well-known song about the Greenland whaling fishing in the 1820s.

The Salts sang Bonny Ship the Diamond on their 2013 album She Rises.

Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith sang The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ in 2014 on their Fellside CD Let the Wind Blow High or Low. They noted:

The Bonnie Ship has been widely sung in clubs across the country for many years. But despite its familiarity we were taken by the melody and the story surrounding the Diamond. Along with several other whaling ships, it was caught in the Arctic ice and was unable to break free. The crew had to burn the ship’s timber and sleep beneath the sail canvas while they awaited their fate! Only one ship managed to escape which is how we know of this tragic ending. Like Hold the Lantern High, the song tells of the worry of sailors leaving land and the nervous wait for those left behind.

Alex Cumming and Nicola Beazley sang Bonny Ship the Diamond on their 2016 CD Across the Water. They noted:

This song tells of The Diamond which regularly fished for whale in the waters between Greenland and Canada in the 1800s. The Diamond, along with other British whaling ships, was crushed by ice due to high winds. We learnt this song from the singing of Ewan MacColl.

Mawkin sang Diamond Ship on their 2018 album Down Among the Dead Men. They noted:

A song about the famous whaling ship ‘Diamond’ that along with twenty other fine ships was crushed to splinters [by pack ice] and many of the bold whalermen froze or drowned to death. James [Delarre] first heard this sung by the incomparable Mike Waterson and fell in love with the chorus.

Tammie Norrie sang The Bonny Ship the Diamond on their 2024 album Puffin in Flight.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’

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.”

Jock Duncan sings The Diamond Ship

Chorus:
For it’ cheer up my lads let yer hert niver fail,
The bonnie ship the Diamond goes a fishin’for the whale.

The Diamond is a ship brave boys, for Davis Strait she’s bound
The quay it is a’ crooded wi’ bonnie lassies round.
O Captain Gibbons gives command to sail the Oceans wide,
Where the sun it niver sets, brave boys, nor darkness dims the skies.

Alang the pier at Peterheid the lassies stan’ aroon,
The shawls a’ pu’ aboot their face an’ the salt tears rinnin’ doon.
Ach dinna greet, ma bonnie lass, tho’ you be left behind,
For the girse will grow on Greenland’s ice afore we change oor minds.

Best wishes tae the Greenland fleet, and a’ the whalin’ trade.
Likewise the bonnie sailor lads that earn their daily bread,
They wear the troosers o’ the white, the jackets o’ the blue,
Fin they cam hame tae Peterheid they’ll get sweethearts anew.

Jollification will be the time when the Greenland lads come home.
Wi’ the ships a’ fu’ o’ ile, an’ siller tae wir name.
O we’ll mak the cradles fur tae rock, the blankets fur tae tear,
An’ ilky quine in Peterheid sing hush-a-bye ma dear.

Here’s health untae the Herculas, likewise the Mary Jane.
Here’s health untae the Bon Accord an’ the Diamond ship o’ fame.
Here’s health tae Captain Gibbons an’ a’ his glorious crew.
Here’s health tae ilka bonnie quine that his a hert that’s true.

Ian Bruce sings The Diamond

O the bonnie ship, the Diamond ship, goes fishing for the whale.
We will leave our sweetherts and oor wives a-stannin’ on the quay.
Ah, but dinna greet ma bonnie lass though ye are left behind
For the rose will grow on Greenland’s ice afore I change my mind.

Chorus:
And it’s cheer up my lads, let yer hearts never fail,
For the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale.

Ah, provisions we’ve got plenty and with liquor in great store
And wi’ oor tarred dress we’ll reach Strathness and will gar yon taverns roar.
And jovial be the day, my lads, when the Greenland men come home
For they are men o’ honour belongin’ tae oor toon.

We’ll gar the cradles for tae rock and the blankets for tae tear,
Aye, an’ a’ yon quines in Aberdeen sing hushabye my dear.
Here’s a health untae the Hercules, the Diamond and her crew,
And tae a’ yon brave an’ bonnie lads wha wear the jacket blue.

Acknowledgements

A.L. Lloyd’s lyrics were copied from the Leviathan! sleeve notes.