Bonny Ship the Diamond

"Bonny Ship the Diamond" is a traditional folk ballad penned to commemorate a 19th century whaling ship.

The song was popularized by Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd in 1957. According to Lloyd in the liner notes for his album *Leviathan* in 1967, the *Diamond* sailed out of Peterhead, a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, beginning in 1825. It was one of many vessels in a fleet lost to the crush of ice floes in the Davis Straits in 1830. The *Resolution* and *Eliza Swan* were also among this fleet, along with the *Rattler of Leigh* (not the *Battler of Montrose* as some versions of the song suggest). Lloyd claims the song must have only been written a season or two before the tragedy, given the timeline from the ship's maiden voyage to the disaster that claimed her.

## Lyrics

These lyrics are based on the version released on Cures What Ails Ya; an older version can be found here.

>
> The Diamond is a ship, me lads, for the Davis Strait we're bound
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> The quay it is all garnished with bonnie lasses 'round
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> Captain Thompson gives the orders to sail the ocean wide
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> Where the sun it never sets, me lads, nor darkness dims the sky
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>
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> {Chorus}
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> For it's cheer up me lads, let your hearts never fail
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> For the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale
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> For it's cheer up me lads, let your hearts never fail
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> For the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale
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>
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> Along the quay of Peterhead, the lasses stand around
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> Wi' their shawls all pulled around their necks and the salt tears runnin' down
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> Well don't you weep, my bonny lass, though you'll be left behind
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> For the rose will bloom on Greenland's ice before we change our mind
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>
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> {Chorus}
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>
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> Here's a health to the Resolution, likewise the Eliza Swan
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> Three cheers to the Battler of Montrose and the Diamond, ship of fame
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> We wear the trousers of the white and the jackets of the blue
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> When we get back to Peterhead, we'll have sweethearts anew
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>
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> {Chorus}
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>
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> It will be bright both day and night when Greenland lads come hame
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> Our ship full up with oil, my lads, and money to our name
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> We'll make the cradles for to rock and the blankets for to tear
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> And every lass in Peterhead sing, "Hushabye, my dear"
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>
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> {Chorus 2x}
>
>
>
>

## Recordings

#### Streaming/Purchase

* Amazon Music
* Apple Music/iTunes
* Bandcamp
* Deezer
* Pandora
* Spotify

#### YouTube Videos

* Music Video
* Home Stage: Tuesday Folk People

#### Gig Videos

* Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival 2019
* Festival Maritim Bremen Vegesack 2019
* Shrewsbury Folk Festival (27 Aug 2021)
* O2 Institute Birmingham (20 Nov 2021)
* The Whelan's - Dublin (3 Dec 2021)
* Old Songs (25 Feb 2022)
* The Longest Johns Live NYC 2022 @ Le Poisson Rouge (2 Mar 2022)
* Exeter Phoenix (26 April 2022)
* The Studio at the Factory - Dallas, TX (23 Nov 2022)
* Jimmy’s, Liverpool (9 December 2022)
* Kraków, Poland (26 Feb 2023)
* Cursus Festival 2023
* Colours of Ostrava (19 July 2023)

#### Full Band Streams

* Surviving the first month of 2019 with The Longest Johns!!! (New donation system) (30 Jan 2019)
* The Longest Johns and Friends, February Edition (New donation system) (27 Feb 2019)
* The Longest Johns Early Octobermas (2 Oct 2019)
* Spooktober Spectacular and Farewell to Anna Livestream (30 Oct 2019)
* Welcome to a New Decade with The Longest Johns (22 Jan 2020)
* Last Stream Before Album Launch! (27 May 2020)
* It's hot! Stream was a bad choice... Or was it? (24 Jun 2020)
* (New Merch) I'm Goin' Off the Rails on a Crazy Stream (14 Oct 2020)
* I Stream, You Stream, We all Scream for Live Stream (20 Jan 2021)
* STREAM (4 Aug 2021)
* Ex-Stream Sports (15 Feb 2022)
* Strème de Menthe (27 Jul 2022)
* Stream Girls (27 Apr 2023)
* Jingle Jam 2023 | Day 4 (4 Dec 2023)

#### Chill Streams

* JD & Andy Chilltime - 13/01/2020
* JD & Andy Chilltime - 27/01/2020
* Welcome to the Chilldome! With Andy - 15/03/2020
* Welcome to Chilltown! With Andy and JD - 23/03/2020
* Chillbury Town: Population You! With Andy & JD - 30/03/2020
* It's music stream time, everybody loves music stream time... - 11/05/2020

#### Gaming Streams

* Sail & Sing! Lets get damp and sing shanties! - 08/06/2020
* Sea of Sings (and probably thieves) - 26/06/2020
* Sea of Sings on a Monday afternoon, oh what a splendid sight to see - 29/06/2020
* Sea of Sings on a Friday evening, oh what a salty sight to sea - 03/07/2020
* Sea of Sings: Sing harder! - 06/07/2020
* Sea of Sings. Tonight we hit the high C's... - 10/07/2020
* Sea of Sings! Let's get boaty! - 20/07/2020
* Musical larceny on the big blue wet thing - 10/08/2020
* Hoist Up The Thing! - 14/08/2020
* I like big boats and I cannot lie - 17/08/2020
* Boat! Boat! Boat! Boat! Boat! - 21/08/2020
* Super Monday Afternoon Singing Time On The Sea! - 07/09/2020
* Musical larceny on the big blue wet thing - 14/09/2020
* It's boat time! Sea of Sings! - 21/09/2020
* SHANT! - 02/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! - 05/10/2020
* Sea of Thieves? Singing? Splendid! - 09/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! Let's Shant! With Kharites & TeachCourage! - 23/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! 3 2 1 SHANT! - 26/10/2020
* DROPS! Sea of Sings! with BehavingBeardly! SHANT! - 30/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! with AsylumGC8! SHANT! - 31/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! with Spammals! SHANT! - 1/11/2020
* Sea of Sings! with Captain\_Falcore! SHANT! - 2/11/2020
* Sea of Sings! with KroTukk! SHANT! - 3/11/2020
* Sea of Sings! Welcome to the Shantydome! - 6/11/2020
* Sea of Sings! - 13/11/2020
* All aboard the shant bus... I mean boat... I mean ship - 20/11/2020
* Full Friendship followed by Battle Royale! - 23/11/2020
* Sea of Adventure with BehavingBeardly - 27/11/2020
* Sea of Good Tidings - 30/11/2020
* Welcome to the Shantdome! - 4/12/2020
* Let's do a sing and get in the sea !drops - 11/12/2020
* Let's get splashy - 18/12/2020
* Sea of Sings, ye scurvy dogs! | - 4/01/2021
* Let's get piratical! Sea of sings! - 8/01/2021
* Sea of Sings in the morning! - 11/01/2021
* Virtual Pirate Concert with Krotukk - 16/01/2021
* Boo! Surprise Sea of Sings! - 21/01/2021
* It's yarr time! Sea of Sings! Set sails to 100% - 22/01/2021
* Sea of Sings! Seasons or something! - 29/01/2021
* Game Dev stream! Yarrs for everyone! - 05/02/2021
* Sea of Sings! Let's get splashy! - 06/02/2021
* Sea of Sings with Azuki and HappyKrakenX - 08/02/2021
* Sea of Sings with Teachcourage and TheSneakyBeagle - 09/02/2021
* Sea of Sings - It's boat time - 22/02/2021
* It's Friday Funtimes! Let's get in the sea! - 26/02/2021
* Sea of Sings! With Dave, JD and @Krotukk - 05/03/2021
* Sea of Sings with Kharites\_! Let's help her celebrate reaching 7k followers! - 19/03/2021
* Singing and Sailing with BehavingBeardly and KroTukk - 21/03/2021
* Singing and Sailing in Sea of Thieves! With @RobRaven - 29/03/2021
* Shanties?!?! On the sea?!?! Why yes it is... With Krotukk and Kharites\_ - 02/04/2021
* Giveaway Giveaways on the Waves! - 12/04/2021
* Streamy time sails with friends and song! - 23/04/2021
* It's Monday, Monday, Singing and Sailing on Monday! - 26/04/2021
* Four men and a baby. (The baby is our ship) - 10/05/2021
* Sea of Sings! Lets hope the internet is fixed... - 19/07/2021
* Something something pirate pun - 26/07/2021
* Sing and Sail with Friends! Joined by @brionykay - 09/08/2021
* Singing and a'Sailing with RobRaven - 16/08/2021
* To the boatmobile! There's DROPS! - 01/10/2021
* Aga Do Do Do, Eat Pineapples Do A Stream! With KHARITES\_ and Krotukk - 08/10/2021
* Too many gosh darned BUCKETS!!!! ... - 18/10/2021
* Bananas! Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew... - 25/10/2021
* New things?!? Well, new to us anyway. Now with added Spammals!! - 28/03/2022