The Wellerman
Context for the popular whalers' song / sea shanty*
Imagine a tiny outpost on an island 1000s of miles from your home, a few roughly built huts close to a beach, rowboats hauled up on the sand. It's winter and inside, sailors are gathered around a fire drinking rum, smoking their clay pipes, telling stories and singing. These men are whalers, accustomed to a tough life and dangerous, unpleasant work. They sing to cheer themselves in the grim conditions. Their life has few pleasures, but one high point is the appearance of the supply ship. When you sing "The Wellerman", you are one of these whalers.
The song has passed many times from person to person, each time learned by ear, resulting in several versions and a little confusion in the story. However, I'm able to, from my years of research into particularly offshore whaling, provide some background and meanings to terminology that should help the song make sense.
- Who was the Wellerman?
In the late 18th and 19th centuries, whaling was a lucrative business. The Weller brothers, Edward, Joseph and George, were a 19th century Sydney based
whaling company that operated bay whaling stations on the coast of New
Zealand, at Otago Harbour. It's not clear whether "the Wellerman" refers to the company ship or the "man from Weller" who brought the supplies, but it doesn't matter, it amounts to the same thing. Historical records don't mention a ship owned by Wellers called the Wellerman, though they did have one called the Joseph Weller. Whatever its name, the supply ship was eagerly awaited by the isolated whale hunters.
The song begins:
There once was a ship that put to sea
The name of the ship was the Billy o' Tea
The story told in the song is about pelagic, or deep-sea whaling, which was conducted from a specially fitted-out ship. When a whale was sighted, whaleboats were lowered and went in pursuit.
When down on her a right whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow
The "right" whale simply meant the right one to catch because it yielded the most or the best kind of oil. Today, we still call one species the "Southern Right Whale". A whaling ship would have hoisted the whale onto the deck for processing - cutting up and rendering down the blubber, or fat layer of the beast. Presumably the ship would tow the whale to calmer waters first. Huge pots of boiling oil would be disastrous in rough seas.
Blow, my bully boys, blow
The first sighting of a whale was often the plume of spray emitted from the blowhole on top of its head. Lookouts really did call "There she blows!" when this was sighted. Whalers earned a percentage of the sale of the oil, known as a "lay", so they were very keen for the hunt and no doubt waited impatiently for the lookout's call. It would not be surprising if the last line of the Wellerman's chorus was originally "We'll take our lay and go".**
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
Whalers preferred red meat, and would hunt what local fauna there was rather than eat whale. Some whaling stations had a few pigs or sheep and the crew would grow potatoes and other vegetables if the soil was suitable. But "tea, sugar and rum" could not be had locally, neither could tobacco, and when these supplies ran short the whalers would long for the return of the company ship. This lifestyle was more or less common to all off-shore whalers, so the song could have been sung by bay whalers anywhere, substituting the name of their employer, perhaps Hagen or Griffiths, for "Weller".
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down below
Whaleboats were fitted for both rowing and sailing, about 6-8 men to a boat. On board were the headsman (boss), the boatsteerer (usually the harpoonist) and 4-6 "pulling hands" (oarsmen). When they neared the whale, one or more harpoons with "lines" (ropes) attached would be thrown and lodge in the whale. The whale would then pull the boats behind it as it tried to escape the harpoons, a dangerous time for the sailors as they could be pulled well out to sea and their boats overturned or broken up. The biggest danger was if the while dived into the deep sea, the whaleboat could be pulled under, or a whale thrashing its tail onto the boat could cause injury and destroy the boat. Many hours later the whale would get tired and the whalers could get closer for the kill. If the danger was too great, or the sailors tired before the whale did, the lines would be cut, the whale would be freed and the sailors would return disappointed.
The verses of "The Wellerman" tell of just such a whale hunt, albeit a rather far-fetched one.
The Captain's mind was not of greed
But he belonged to the whaleman's creed
She took the ship in tow.
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go.
When down on her a right whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down below
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go.
The Captain's mind was not of greed
But he belonged to the whaleman's creed
She took the ship in tow.
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
The line went slack, then tight once more
All boats were lost, there were only four
But still that whale did go
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
The line's not cut and the whale's not gone
The Wellerman makes his regular call
To encourage the Captain, crew, and all
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go