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The Humpback Whale (Ballina Whalers)

[Harry Robertson]

Nic Jones recorded Scottish born, Australian Folk singer Harry Robertson's ballad Ballina Whalers in 1980 under the title The Humpback Whale for his Topic album Penguin Eggs. On the same album, he recorded another one of Robertson's songs, Wee Dark Engine Room, under the title The Little Pot Stove.

John Wesley Harding also sang this song on his Nic Jones tribute album, Trad Arr Jones.

Jon Boden sang Ballina Whalers as the January 19, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

Nic Jones sings The Humpback Whale

Fifty-six I sailed on board
A ship called Byron One
She's carried trawler men on deck
And a harpoon whaling gun

Chorus (after each verse):

Oh you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

A tractor for a whale winch
And the ship's an old Fairmile
Twin diesels turn the screws around
She'll whale in a fine old style

Keep a sharp look-out me lads
The whale he's on the run
And we'll drive him into Byron Bay
And we'll shoot him with our guns

The harpoon and the line fly through
Very deep into the whale
She split the timbers of the ship
With a flurry of her tail

The rigging struts are snapped in two
We reel beneath the blow
The gunner fires a killer shot
And that humpback sank below

Make her tail fast to the bows
We've got no time for bed
For four and twenty hours each day
We kept that factory fed

The flensing men upon the land
Some had been jackeroos
They skin the blubber from the whales
Like they're skinning kangaroos

A hundred whales and then fifty more
Through the factory we did send
And then the orders came - knock off me lads
Your season's at an end

Back into Ballina we steered
Tied up and stowed the gear
All hands headed for the pub
And we filled ourselves with beer

Links and Acknowledgements

See also the Mudcat Café thread Ballina Whalers.

Thanks to Garry Gillard for transcribing Nic Jones' lyrics.