The Diamond is a ship, my lads For the Davis Strait we're bound The quay it is all garnished With bonnie lasses 'round Captain Thompson gives the order To sail the ocean wide Where the sun it never sets, my lads Nor darkness dims the sky
For it's cheer up my lads Let your hearts never fail For the bonnie ship the Diamond Goes a-hunting 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 bonnie wee 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 Three cheers for the Battler of Montrose And the Diamond, ship of fame We wear the trousers o' the white The jackets o' the blue When we get back to Peterhead We'll hae sweethearts enou'
It will be bright both day and night When the Greenland lads come hame Our ship full up with 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"
Background: An old Scottish song popularized by The Corries. Over-fishing in the Greenland sea during the early 19th century had a devastating toll on the whale stocks. A new hunting ground, the South-West Fishery, was discovered in the region of the Davis Straits and it was mostly here that The Diamond fished. In 1830 The Diamond, Eliza Swan and The Resolution along with seventeen other whaling ships were caught in the ice of Melville Bay. The ships were lost and many sailors lost their lives.