By the 1840s, British whaling reached a low ebb but
during the 1850s, the industry began to flourish, for
the introduction of steam power meant that whalers
could push to new grounds far to the north, and then
batter their way back through some fifty miles of pack
ice until the open sea was reached again. The first
whaling steamer set out from Hull in 1857, but the most
famous whalers under steam power were those that sailed
out of Dundee.
The stereotype of the oldtime whaleman is of a...(+)
By the 1840s, British whaling reached a low ebb but
during the 1850s, the industry began to flourish, for
the introduction of steam power meant that whalers
could push to new grounds far to the north, and then
batter their way back through some fifty miles of pack
ice until the open sea was reached again. The first
whaling steamer set out from Hull in 1857, but the most
famous whalers under steam power were those that sailed
out of Dundee.
The stereotype of the oldtime whaleman is of a
hairychested ring-tailed roarer, hard worker, hard
drinker, hard fighter. No doubt the description fitted
many of them; nevertheless they often showed strong
liking for gentle meditative songs. Perhaps alone among
all the songs on this record, Farewell to Tarwathie was
made not by a whaleman but by a miller, George Scroggie
of Federate, near Aberdeen, around the middle of the
nineteenth century.
"Farewell tae Tarwathie" possibly written by George
Scrogie, a miller at Fedderate, New Deer, in the early
1850s. This haunting beautiful song was recorded by
Judy Collins in a long-playing record called 'Whales
and Nightingales'. Behind the voice of the singer can
be heard the wailing of the whales, a sad sound, as if
they were crying out against their fate. Tarwathie is a
farm in the lap of Mormond Hill, near the village of
Strichen, and the song tells the story of a lad who
left there to seek his fortune at the whaling there are
three Tarwathies near Mormond Hill, but no one has ever
been able to find out what happened to their whaler
boy.
Although this work was originally written for pipes, I
created this arrangement for Flute, Oboe, Cello (drone)
& Concert (Pedal) Harp.