The notes on an old LP of Alex Campbell's has the song relating to a voyage from Peterhead in 1826. It then goes on to say that four years later in 1830 the ship was lost, trapped in the ice of Melville Bay, along with a number of other ships. There were few fatalities as the crews went over the ice to be picked up by other whalers, not trapped by the ice.

There is a very good museum in Peterhead covering the towns involvement with the whaling industry and as this song covers what must have been one of the major incidents, the museum should have some factual information on the subject.