Much darker than the Greenland Whale Fisheries.
This song is from circa 1840-50 the Greenland right whale fishing industry. The song speaks of leaving “old Greenland's icy grounds” and indicates a trip of four years' duration. The very long trips only occurred in the Southern fishery; the Greenland season was usually but a matter of months, though ships sometimes stayed all winter on the entrance to the Davis Strait so as to make an early start next season. Recorded on A.L. Llyod's album 'Leviathan' in 1967.

THE WEARY WHALING GROUNDS

Oh if I had the wings of a gull, me boys
I would spread them and fly home
I’d leave old Greenland’s icy grounds
For a Right Whale there is none
And the weather’s rough and the winds do blow
And there’s little comfort here
Oh I’d sooner be snug in a Deptford pub
A drinkin’ of strong beer

Oh a man must be mad or want money bad
To venture catching whale
For you may be drowned as the fish turns around
Or your head be crushed by his tail
Though the work seems grand to the hungry man
And his heart is high when he goes
In a very short burst he sooner hear a curse
Than the cry of “There she blows”.

All hands on deck now for God’s sake
Move briskly if you can
And you stumble on deck so dizzy and sick
For your life you don’t give a dam
And high overhead the great flukes spread
As the mate gives the whale the iron
And soon the blood in a purple flood
From the spout all comes a flyin’

Well these trials we bear for nigh four years
‘Till the flag it points for home
We’re supposed, for our toil to get a bonus on the oil
And an equal share of the bone
But we go to the agent to settle for the trip
And we find we’ve cause to repent
For we’ve slaved away four years of our lives
And earned about three pounds ten