Sea shanties and the filey Fishermen's choir

There has been a long tradition of singing at sea. It is considered good for the character. Sea shanties were more common in the age of sail. It went with the repetitive hard work. Men would sing to keep pace with the work required. Sea shanties were less common in the age of the steam powered boats. But in places like Filey the tradition continued on. The Filey Fishermens Choir is famous and much respected. It very much fits in with the traditions of the Filey as a whole. It was a hotbed for primitive methodism. The fishermen worked hard and afterwards enjoyed a good clean lifestyle which included singing hymns and sea songs. The following is a song regularly sung by Filey Fishermens Choir.

Fair stood the wind

Now that the fishing is ended,
Now that the boats are all gone,
Now that the quays are deserted,
There's talk as to what can be done,
For once there was fishing a-plenty,
Once there was cod by the score,
Once there was fish landed daily,
Just as in the fisherman's song.


Chorus : Fair stood the wind for the old fishing ground,
As we hoisted our sail, once more outward bound,
To hunt for the herring wherever they be,
And take all we could from the plentiful sea,
Then home once agin o'er the swift flowing tide,
The harbour lights shining way on the port side,
The catch in the hold, our days labour through,
A share for the skipper, the boat and the crew.

Gone are the shoals of herring,
Gone are the long busy days,
Gone are the men who remember, How to fish in the old fashioned ways,
For the fishermen now of all nations,
All gather to scoop the sea dry,
For they don't care about conservation,
As they did in the days long gone by.

Farewell to those far distant waters,
Farewell to the ice and the storms,
Farewell to the nights in the Minches,
We're ashore and we'll never return,
For now that the fishing has ended,
Now that the boats are all gone,
Now that the quays are deserted,
There's only an echoing song.





OTHER ARTICLES
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast
• Filey fishermen in 1862 - yawls and cobles
• Trawling and overfishing - Filey fishing
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Losses amongst Filey fishing cobles
• The Womens work in the Filey fishing industry
• Primitive Methodism amongst the Scarborough Filey and Flamborough fishing communities
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• The history of the herring fishing in the North Sea
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• Famous fishing families - the Whitby Storr family and the Leadleys
• A great storm off Filey Bridge and a famous rescue in 1799
• Luggers and yawls in the filey fishing industry
• The fishermen and fisheries of Robin Hood's Bay in 1838
• Filey and its early fishing industry
• The Beam trawl and the Otter trawl
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• The history of the Scarborough fishing industry
• Drink and alcohol in the Filey fishing community

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