Versions of this song were collected in 1905, and A L Lloyd collected a version in 1937 from someone called T. Cowdray in Liverpool. The song is included in Ord's Bothy songs and Ballads (published 1930) which says "During the first 60 years of the last century whale fishing was an important Scottish industry. One whaling vessel "The Bonnie ship the Diamond", immortalized in song and story, sailed from Aberdeen........." A whaleship Diamond, commanded by Captain Thompson, was wrecked in the ice in 1819 after taking 8 whales. The Diamond (371 tons and owned by the Aberdeen Whale Fishing Company) had joined the fleet in 1812 under the command of Captain Moffat.

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,

So it's cheer up my lads, let your hearts never fail,
While the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale.

Along the quay at Peterhead, the lasses stand aroon,
Wi' their shawls all pulled around them and the saut tears runnin' doon;
Don't you weep, my bonny lass, though you be left behind,
For the rose will grow on Greenland's ice before we change our mind.

Here's a 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 trouser o' the white and the jackets o' the blue,
When we return to Peterhead, we'll hae sweethearts anoo,

It'll be bricht both day and nicht when the Greenland lads come hame,
Wi' a ship that's fu' of oil, my lads, and money to our name;
We'll make the cradles for to rock and the blankets for to tear,
And every lass in Peterhead sing "Hushabye, my dear"

 
 

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