Found it!

From this page, where it says "This song was written about the feelings of Fisher's friend Owen Hand on his first trip on board a whaling ship out of Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland."


THE FIRST TIME (Archie Fisher)


When you're sailin' out for the first time,
Men will tell you of trips that they've made,
Of the work and the sweat and the loneliness,
And you feel just a little afraid.

They'll tell you of whales that they've harpooned,
And of payoffs they've had in the past,
Of the men who have died, and the boredom,
And of trips that were to be their last.

They say when you've been out at six months,
In that cold and desolate place,
That you won't be able to sleep at night,
Or remember your own mother's face.

So when you ask them why they go whaling,
And why from their families they part,
Oh, they may shrug and say, "It's the money,"
Or that "man is a hunter at heart."

When you lie in your bunk on the first night,
And you hope that it won't be too tough,
And the roll of the ship puts you off to sleep,
You'll find out for yourself soon enough.

It won't be the first time you've worked hard,
For you've mined and you've dug ditches, too,
And how can there be any loneliness,
With three hundred men in the crew?

When you're sailin' out for the first time,
Men will tell you of trips that they've made,
Of the work and the sweat and the loneliness,
And you feel just a little afraid.

####.... Archie Fisher ....####
Recorded by Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise (For Foul Day And Fair, trk#6, 1978, Folk Legacy Records, FSS-69).