From A L Lloyd: "Leviathan, Songs & Ballads Of The Whaling Trade". The song refers to the hunting of the right & sperm whales around the Baffin Bay area in the 1870's. In 1857 the first whaling steamer set out from Hull. The most famous steamers were those from Dundee, including the Balaena. Buy the 1880's the right whale in the Arctic were to scarce to bother with. Captain Gray of the Eclipse instituted the hunting of the Bottlenose, while the Balaena went looking for new whaling grounds in Antarctic, finding plenty of Finn whales in 1893, but without the harpoon cannon (invented 1860, not used widly for the next 20 yrs.), couldn't catch the swift Finn & Blue. The 1890's saw the wide use of the cannon and in the Antarctic and took the Blue & Finn by the thousands. The cannon was the death nell to the old hand harpooning Moby Dick days. The old songs were still sung, but less, and no new ones of any power were made up. Hope this is of intrest. Barry