Wellerman

This is a sea shanty about a right whale being hunted by a whaling boat in the 19th century. Sea shanties were often sung by sailors to help them to work together on the tasks that they had to perform whilst at sea. Shanty was also spelled ‘chanty’ and is said to come from the French word ‘chanter’ which means ‘to sing’. This is where the English word ‘chant’ comes from.

The Wellerman was the name of the boat (built by the Weller brothers company of Australia) which brought supplies to the whalers. The name of the boat (Billy o’ Tea) comes from the Australian “billycan” which was a metal cooking pot used to heat water or to drink tea from.

The whalers gave the name “right whale” to a species of whale that they thought was the easiest to hunt. “Tonguing” is the word used to describe the whale’s blubber being butchered or cut up into strips (tongues).

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