This week I am a mere student in Bergen, but last week I was a researcher aboard the R/V Håkon Mosby, tossed in the North Sea, bound for Shetland Islands. We left Bergen on a blue-sky morning and saw the coast in brilliant light. On the second morning we found ourselves in a field of oil rigs, flaming in time with the sunrise. We made it to the North Sea Plateau, and we trawled, using both bottom and pelagic (mid-water) trawl gear. We students sorted, measured and weighed the catches. I finally feel somewhat acquainted with species of the Atlantic, which helps me to feel more at home here.
We had a few days in Lerwick, the largest town on the Shetland Islands. We were working during the day, but had the chance to experience local color in the evenings and take a short hike through the treeless sheep pastured hills and rain. The streets of Lerwick themselves have a Harry Potter magic to them. Winding rows of stone houses with a British flare.
I tried to get the Norwegian crew of the Håkon Mosby to teach me Norwegian Sea Shanties, but was unsuccessful. However, I can now say that I have shared the life of the North Sea, and harvested a few herring, and have always loved the Shanty below. They are beautiful, the Atlantic herring. I think much bigger than the ones we have in Alaska, with beautiful blue scales.
On the North Sea We’re Farin’ (Shoals of Herring)
By Ewan MacColl, with adapted first verse
On the North Sea we’re farin’
On that wild and wasteful ocean
Casting our nets, reaping the harvest of the deep
While we hunt the silver shoals of herring
O, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring
O, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring
O, we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring
O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring
In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herring
O, I earned me keep and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
Sailed a million miles, caught ten-million fishes
We were sailing after shoals of herring
Melody can be found at: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSHOALHER;ttSHOALHER.html
We had a few days in Lerwick, the largest town on the Shetland Islands. We were working during the day, but had the chance to experience local color in the evenings and take a short hike through the treeless sheep pastured hills and rain. The streets of Lerwick themselves have a Harry Potter magic to them. Winding rows of stone houses with a British flare.
I tried to get the Norwegian crew of the Håkon Mosby to teach me Norwegian Sea Shanties, but was unsuccessful. However, I can now say that I have shared the life of the North Sea, and harvested a few herring, and have always loved the Shanty below. They are beautiful, the Atlantic herring. I think much bigger than the ones we have in Alaska, with beautiful blue scales.
On the North Sea We’re Farin’ (Shoals of Herring)
By Ewan MacColl, with adapted first verse
On the North Sea we’re farin’
On that wild and wasteful ocean
Casting our nets, reaping the harvest of the deep
While we hunt the silver shoals of herring
O, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring
O, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring
O, we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring
O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring
In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herring
O, I earned me keep and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
Sailed a million miles, caught ten-million fishes
We were sailing after shoals of herring
Melody can be found at: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSHOALHER;ttSHOALHER.html
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