Peterhead

DESCRIPTION: "A busy town was Peterhead ... In the days of long ago": lasses worked at looms, whaling ships sailed to Greenland, "fishermen went out to sea," "drifters were unknown." "Peterhead will flourish still As in the days of long ago"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Greig/Duncan3)
KEYWORDS: commerce fishing weaving nonballad whaler
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #86, p. 1, "Peterhead" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan3 515, "Peterhead" (1 text)
Roud #5999
NOTES [96 words]: Greig/Duncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Peterhead (515) is at coordinate (h4-5,v1) on that map [on the coast, roughly 28 miles NNE of Aberdeen] - BS
Peterhead was for a time famous as the place where the Old Pretender landed in 1715. As the song indicates, it was a leading whaling port. But first the arctic whales were hunted to near-extinction, and then the fish populations crashed. Peterhead was never to recover its prosperity (although I gather North Sea oil has helped somewhat). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: GrD3515

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