Hey Charley,

I unearthed a letter I received from John Conolly (3/19/01) giving me permission to record "Here's to the Grimsby Lads" (that's the official title). Included with the letter was a lyric sheet for the song. At the bottom of the page was this:

"This is one of the first songs we [John Conolly and Bill Meek] ever wrote together ... and it is more popular in 1998 than it was over thirty years ago! We have recently received recordings of it from Holland, Germany, Denmark and Poland. It is a simple tribute to the men who did the toughest job in the world ... the deep-sea trawlermen whose triumphs and disasters were an integral part of our growing up, and whose lives we have tried to chronicle in many of our songs."

So that would suggest the song was written around 1968.

Both Conolly and Meek often re-write verses and phrases as time passes. In the original version of "Here's to the Grimsby Lads" the second line of the last verse read:

"To the fisherman's prayer the breeze sings the 'Amen'"

Later this was changed to:
"Another trip's over, another day's done"

Similarly, the phrase at the end of the first line in the last verse was changed from "... the new sun in gleaming" to "... the new sun is beaming."