Archie Fisher said that he wrote this song after seeing a couple of perfectly good steel trawlers rusting away on the ledges ("skerries") outside a harbor in northern Scotland, and was told by the fishermen that they were drove there by their owners because, even with the government subsidy to help the fishermen,the fishing was so poor they still couldn't make a living, and the men didn't want to see them cut into scrap by the ship-breakers. In other lands, you'd suspect that insurance might have something to do with it - but who's to say? It's not hard to miss your harbor in the fog ..• (G. B.)
Been three long years since we made
her pay,
Haul away, my laddie-o,
And we can't get by on the subsidy,
Haul away, my laddie-o.
Then heave away for the final trawl;
It's an easy pull, for the catch
is small.
So stow your gear, lads, and batten
down,
And I'll take the wheel, lads, and
turn her 'round.
And we'll join the Venture and the
Morning Star,
Riding high and empty towards the bar.
For I'd rather beach her on the
skerry rock
Than to see her torched in the
breaker's dock.
And when I die, you can stow me down
In her rusty hold, where the breakers
sound.
Then I'd make my haven the Fiddler's
Green,
Where the grub is good and the bunks
are clean.
For I've fished a lifetime, boy and
man,
And the final trawl scarcely nets
a cran*.
*Cran = a measure of herring taken from
the net, averaging 750.