There once was a ship, a ship called Billy o’ Tea. It was a ship that sailed from the Caribbean to Australia. It carried lots of people and tons of goods. The crew included Wellerman and Tonguing. They did many things, some of them not so great, but they got the job done.
Billy o’ Tea
There once was a ship called Billy o’ Tea, a fictional vessel whose story is based on a real-life whaler. This nautical saga has been around for nearly two centuries. The illustrative name is derived from the billy, a lightweight cooking pot used to boil water for tea and coffee. Its handle is curved into a point for easy pouring.
Weller brothers owned the biggest whaling company in New Zealand in the nineteenth century. They were also the first to make a splash in Australia. Their fleet consisted of many trade ships and trade boats. In their heyday, they owned more than a hundred vessels.
The song was credited with helping them make a name for themselves and a bundle of cash in the process. Aside from their fleet of trade boats, they also owned a string of coastal whaling stations. These became the first ghost towns to grace the shores of New Zealand.
The song is also attributed to being a sea shanty, a song of seafaring men and women accompanied by their gals. In addition to being an entertaining escapade, it is an excellent demonstration of the fo’c’sle lingo.
Despite its plethora of miscues, the song has endured. Even robots are singing it these days. Whether or not there really was a ship named after a small cooking pot or whether it was just a clever piece of writing, the song is still a hit.
Besides the sexiest name ever, the song is a fun romp through the highs and lows of whaling. Among the most memorable moments are a lull in the captain’s sex and a run-in with a massive wave. And there’s more: the song is one of the first recorded songs of its kind. While its complexities are best left to the imagination, there’s no denying that this is a worthy homage to whalers and their wares.
Several modern musicians have cited the song as the inspiration for their own oeuvres. The Longest Johns have a version of the song on their Between Wind and Water CD.
Wellerman
There once was a ship and she was called the Wellerman. The Wellerman brought supplies to shore whalers, including tea and sugar. Soon, sailors longed to return to their ships and see their Wellerman.
In the nineteenth century, the Weller Brothers were the largest whalers in New Zealand. They had a supply station in Otakou, a Maori settlement. During the early 1800s, the station produced 310 tons of whale oil a year. This was a financial boon for the Weller brothers. Nevertheless, the company never attempted to resupply its ships from the deep sea.
The Weller Brothers’ presence in New Zealand led to hundreds of intermarriages between whalers and the local Maori population. Their success depended on good relations with the people of the region.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Weller Brothers sold provisions to whalers in the Otago region. They also traded boats for guns.
These trades were an expression of colonialism.
Until the 1960s, commercial whaling in New Zealand continued. While New Zealand whaling was different from deep-sea whaling, the industry still incorporated Maori into the global economy. Sailors were underpaid. However, they were also able to take home a variety of supplies. Some of these supplies were sugar, tea, and rum. All of these were important enough to include in the lyrics of the songs.
One of the most famous sea shanty songs is the “Billy o’ Tea” song. It is one of the oldest recorded sea shanties. Although the song is now nearly 200 years old, it is still sung by whalers and sailors.
Another popular sea shanty is “Soon May the Wellerman Come”. It is a song about the New Zealand whaling industry. Many believe it was composed of shore whalers. But the origin of the song is not clear.
In any case, the popularity of the song is undeniable. The song has a strong beat and an engaging chorus. Besides, it is a surprisingly long song. So it is not surprising that it has become a hit on TikTok. If you like the song, you can purchase a sea shanty from Amazon.
Tonguing
The tongue-in-cheek title of this article is tonguing on there once was a ship. It is a sea shanty that is probably best seen as the tall tale of a fictional whaler whose name we shall not mention in this article. Aside from the whacky name, this is a pretty good song for an early 19th-century sailor. This song’s granddaddy is a whaling ship called Billy o’ Tea and its ilk.
As for the song’s name, the title is a reference to the name of a famous ship, though the name is a bit of a mouthful. It was used to ferry supplies to whaling ships. While it may have been fiction, its crew is still engaged in a war of attrition with a whale. Interestingly, this is the name of the most famous sea shanty and it appears to be a fictional vessel in a fictional story.
The song’s lyrics are a cynical take on the sailor’s life. They tell of the best ways to kill a whale, including the evocative but unorthodox method of tonguing it on shore. In the ‘old days’, this was a rather crude method of processing a whale. For example, the blubber was cut into tongues and rendered into whale oil. To make sure the process was a success, a sailor was paid for a variety of supplies, including tea and sugar.
There are several songs of this ilk in circulation, but this one is a favorite amongst many sailors. It’s an impressive piece of music, and the names of the characters are familiar to sailors of all ages. Perhaps the best part is that the song’s message is that even if you’re the most qualified person in the world, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to master this task. And, if you’re lucky, you might just make it home. Fortunately, a few stalwarts are on hand to help you along the way.
The song’s lyrics are attributed to Joseph Weller, a wealthy landowner from Kent who moved his family to Australia to improve their health. He later took a small fortune in gold and built what was then the largest whaling company in New Zealand. Despite the fact that his fleet was based in Otakou, the name of his flagship is Billy o’ Tea.
Whaling
The history of whaling in New Zealand dates back to the mid-19th century. During this time, whalers from America and Europe came to the country to catch whales.
As the number of whales in New Zealand decreased, whalers began to practice shore-based whaling. These men needed land to cultivate food and live. They also had to process the whales on land.
In addition to processing the whales on land, the whaling industry facilitated more extensive cross-cultural interactions in southern New Zealand. Many of these interactions were based on mutual benefit. For instance, Ngai Tahu and newcomers would negotiate relationships of mutual benefit.
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A whaler’s job was incredibly dangerous. A crew could be driven insane while trying to hunt a large, powerful quarry. This often resulted in violence.
Whalers traveled through Cook Strait, a narrow waterway that connects the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand. Their boats were 25 feet long. Each boat had six men on board. There was a captain, a lookout, and a mate.
Launch rowboats
After the captain spotted a whale, the crew would launch rowboats. This was a diversion from the monotony of long hours at sea. Crew members talked on the deck and puffed on pipes.
The whalers often lost battles with the whales. When a battle occurred, they hurled harpoons. Afterward, they would return the line to the ship. Sometimes, a whale would get away and the whalers drowned.
Another phase of the whaling process was butchering. The whalers carved scrimshaw, a form of art that used the baleen found in the whale’s mouth. Later, the baleen was boiled down into the oil.
Whaling in New Zealand was a difficult occupation. It was a male-dominated occupation, and the workers were often underpaid. Some of the men suffered from tuberculosis. Moreover, women were forbidden to participate in whaling.
Although it was difficult, whaling gave Ngai Tahu access to a global economy. But the industry was not enough to prevent loneliness. While whaling provided many benefits, it did not prevent the loneliness that it created.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial whaling in New Zealand continued. But the industry was declining.
