CZTERY REFY - The Bonny Ship The Diamond

The Bonny Ship The Diamond

Words traditional
Music traditional: "The Bonny Ship The Diamond"

The "Diamond" is a ship, my boys, for the Davis Strait she's bound
And the quay it is all garnished with the bonny lasses round.
Captain Thomson gives the order to sail the ocean wide
Where the sun is never sets, my lads, nor darkness dims the sky.

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.

And it's cheer up, my lads, let your hearts never fail... Here's health to the "Resolution", likewise to "Eliza Swan"
Here's health to the "Rattler" 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 enow.

And it's cheer up, my lads, let your hearts never fail... Oh, 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 blankets for to tear
And every lass in Peterhead sing" "Hushabye my dear"

And it's cheer up, my lads, let your hearts never fail...

"The Bonny Ship The Diamond" - A whaling song about a famous ship the “Diamond”. The original version, probably written by a member of the “Diamond’s” crew, must have been created before 1830. In that year a huge disaster happened - over 20 whaling ships got stuck in the ice of Melville’s Bay. Bold “Diamond”, the pride of Peterhead harbour, never returned. We’ve been popularizing this song (as well as 'The Balaena') in a version based on the one from “A.L. Lloyd Leviathan! - Ballads and Songs of the Whaling Trade” (Topic 12T174).

"Smialy harpunnik" is a Polish version of this song.