Whaling with Bagpipes

Subject: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Uke
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 08:19 PM

I have just come across this amazing account in a book called "Salt Sea Tang", by Angus Cameron Robertson, published 1927. The author was a Highland Scot who went to sea as a boy (probably in the mid-19th century) before settling many years later in Dunedin, New Zealand. Here he describes the use of the shipboard use of the bagpipes:

"When hoisting the topsails and top gallant sails at sea, we usually mast-headed them to the stirring skirl of the pipes or the sweet airs of Gaelic songs. Always entering or leaving port, our pipe band played in full strength as we hove on the capstan or manned the windlass...When tacking ship at sea the band always played all hands to their stations, and as the ship came round majestically to the music of the pipes there seemed to be a sweet caress in every roll and lurch of her."

Has anyone ever heard of the bagpipes being used like a shanty in this way? I sure haven't.

And, as the title of this thread indicates, that's not all:

"We were once becalmed in the Tropics when on the 'Lady Jane' with a good number of cabin passengers on board, bound for Calcutta... Four bells struck (10 p.m.), when the ball began in real earnest, fore and aft the decks, to the music of the pipe band... both ladies and gentlemen, irrespective of the tropical heat, might be seen whipping through the Highland Reel with amazing vigour. But lo! our merry-making was quite unexpectedly brought to a sudden stop. A big school of whales, bound south, came sailing around us, evidently having been attracted by the music of the bagpipes. The whales lashed the ocean with their tails... they would dart right round the 'Lady Jane' at a terrific rate of speed, leaping over one another.

The old man [Captain McDonald] alone did not express surprise, and proceeded as follows to explain: - "Ladies and gentlemen," he began, addressing the passengers, "you seem to be surprised at this whale dance; but in my young days when I was a whaler, we made 'flat-foot' dance often enough, let me tell you. Having discovered that the whale has a darned nerve somewhere near his brain that makes him very suceptible to sweet music, we never went whaling without a band of good pipers. And whenever we sailed into our whaling ground the band played up, and 'flat-foot' came rising and playing about in scores; with the result that we invariably filled up with whale oil and homeward bound before some of the other whalers had fairly started. But we alwyas took good care to keep this affair a strict secret for reasons better known to ourselves.""

Tall tale?

Can anyone out there corroborate Robertson's tale of bagpipe music being used as a lure by whalers?

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 08:57 PM

No, but I'm already considering a song. What a wonderful story.

A few years back Green Peace was experimenting with a "whale caller." It was a failure in attracting whales but a smaller prototype became an instrument in our musical group for producing whale-like sounds. Lord knows what whale babble we were creating!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 11:06 PM

S'pose they played the old Scottish tune "O Whaley Whaley"...??

Julia

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Uke
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 11:56 PM

Julia,

Believe it or not Angus Robertson actually does mention some of the dance tunes they were playing at the time on the 'Lady Jane'. They were the 'Gales of the West' waltz and 'The Flowers of Edinburgh' - so maybe they'd still work?

Charley - I hope you post your song once its finished, it'd be great to check out!

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Kaleea
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 04:18 AM

Does this mean there will be an Alaska whale watchers' cruise complete with Pipe band for 'Catters coming up soon?

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 04:40 AM

Surely you meant 'wailing' with bagpipes ?

eric

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,curmudgeon
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 06:54 AM

This seems to back up an untested theory of mine that whales would be attracted by bagpipes. I base this on a couple of observations.

In my younger days, my best friend had taken up the great Highland pipes. Whenever he went into the back yard to practise, the neighboring cow would come running across the field only to stand against the fence and stare for as l;ong as he was playingg. On another occasion, I was hanging around at a practise session with the band he had joined. As the band was marching down the rural road, an entire herd of cows   came to the edge of the fence and followeded the band until they could go no farther -- Tom

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,Rapaire
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 08:57 AM

Gives a whole new view to "La Vache Qui Rit" doesn't it?

Heck, I'd like to go on an experimenting cruise. To make it exact, you'd need a sailing ship.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,Charley Noble
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 09:14 AM

Tom-

That's nothing. Back in the 1970's when NASA was in the space race with the Soviet Union there was this top secret plan to rocket an entire herd of cows into orbit. I remember well losing my morning coffee as I read the screaming headlines proudly announcing "FIRST HERD SHOT AROUND THE WORLD."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: radriano
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 04:17 PM

I would think bagpipe reeds would be notoriously tempermental under sea conditions.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Ernest
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 04:29 PM

and then they would tell the pipers to walk on that plank...

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 06:38 PM

G'day Uke,

I was wondering if this thread / title might provoke a post by Bob Zentz who, I understand, is an occasional 'Catter (although I can't remember his cognomen!). I got to hear him at our Australian National Folk Festival last Easter and was impressed and interested that his approach to study and instrumentation for American music was very close to mine for Australian folk music.

One of his CDs that I bought was called Hove-to and Drifting - a quote from his (autobiographical) song Ocean Station Bravo, which is about an encounter with a pod of whales that relieves the boredom of his Coast Guard stint ... sitting in the middle of the Atlantic, listening for any heating up of the Cold War.

The lookout calls a visual sighting, which proves to be the whales ... and they hang around, presumably out of curiosity. After listening to them on the hydrophones, Bob decides to get out his mouth organ and play a bit back to them. It's a good song that should make us think harder about the intelligence and nature of the whales ... and it resonates well with this thread.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 07:13 PM

This reminds me of a tale of Stormalong, when he went whaling. It was a reasonably good cruise, except that the skipper had a bull basson which he practiced when he was bored or unhappy or when things were slow, which occurred about every 2 or 3 days.

It wouldn't have been so bad except that he was a very bad player and his reed was cracked. He had no spares left so he went with what he had.

One day, Old Stormy, even though he was of a tolerant nature, couldn't take it any longer, quietly went below, lifted the bull bassoon off its mountings on the bulkhead of the captain's cabin and
tossed it out the windows of the captain's cabin. Unfortunately, the bassoon did not sink. It lodged, mouthpiece first, in the blowhole of the most treemendous sparm whale in the South Seas, Mocha Dick [which was the real name of the whale Melville called Moby Dick].

It turned out that Mocha Dick didn't seem to mind this intrusion too much except that he couldn't seal his blowhole when he dived. He started to pine away. Even worse, every time he spouted, that bull whale played that bull bassoon. He wasn't very good but he was better than the captain. He hung around that whaler, just out of reach of the whaleboats and the harpoons.

Now the cow whales were attracted to this strange seagoing concert so that every morning, all they had to do was ust lower away, harpoon one or two or three and render down the blubber. Needless to say, pretty soon every barrel that brig could stow below or on deck was chock full. the cooper had even made special containers to fit in between the regular stowage so they could cram every last drop on board.

When the captain announced that they were going back to Nantucket, Old Stormy took pity on Mocha Dick. The ocean was a lot emptier than when they arrived on their whaling trip.

Being so much taller that the average sailor, he waited until Mocha Dick was swimming about 50 feet off the bow and he leapt directly from the jibboom onto Mocha Dick's back. Before he could respond to this sudden intrusion, Stormy ran forward and plucked the bassoon from his blowhole, then jumped into the sea and swam back to the ship. Unfortunately, the bassoon got lost during the return swim.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Uke
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 07:59 PM

So, in a sense Mocha Dick could also play and sing at the same time, making for the first 'whalesong' with instrumental self-accompaniment.

That's a good yarn EBarnacle.

Bob - I saw Bob Zentz play here in Wellington, NZ last year (concert of the year) and remember that song.

I was thinking that a crucial factor in the bagpipe story was that it was a whole squad of bagpipers playing, generating a substantial volume I imagine, that attracted the pod of whales. I'm not sure how sensitive hearing whales have, but it seems that they would require a 'sound system' of their own proportions to get really interested.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 09:44 PM

G'day Uke,

Well, remember that Bob Zentz sang of playing the mouthorgan out through the ship's underwater speakers (presumably the same ones that emit sounds when sonar is operating).

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: LadyJean
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:48 AM

I'm not sure the pipes being referred to in that story are bagpipes.
Has anyone else ever heard the MacCallmans' rendition of the diamond, which includes plugging the whale's blowhole.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:43 AM

G'day LadyJean,

I think it unlikely that you could make much of a case for any other sense of "pipes" - consider: "... to the stirring skirl of the pipes or the sweet airs of Gaelic songs. Always entering or leaving port, our pipe band played in full strength ...".

Skirl is rare in any sense other than my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary's "A shrill sound, esp. that characteristic of the bagpipe 1860" ... singers of Gaelic songs would have a clear idea of what they thought the pipes were ... and a "pipe band" might just be a coterie of determined smokers - but certainly means a band of bagpipers to most people.

Also note the date cited (1860) for this sense of skirl is very close to the date of the events related.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 09:11 AM

Ebarnacle-

More drift:

Let there be no whaling at the bar,
No goons with harpoons,
Nor buffoons with bassoons,
Or you'll find trouble not too far.

And with your nautical attire, pray take care,
No Stormalong Long Johns,
No Johnson Girls in thongs,
Nor underwire underwater underwear.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: just john
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 09:30 AM

Hm ... all those news stories in past years about whales beaching themselves ...

Perhaps looking into the records of the ships operating at the other end of the ocean at the time might be in order. Perhaps these are bagpipe related?

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,The Shambles
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 10:06 AM

In Killmare, Kerry last year - we found an advertised position for a musician to accompany the wildlife searching pleasure trips that left from this pier. The advert didn't specify that it had to be a piper nor if this was to attract the wildlife or the paying passengers. I was tempted to stay and apply but as I had fallen down the stairs, had just come out of hospital and had my arm in sling - I am not sure that I could have done my best at any audition.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,The Shambles
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 10:13 AM

This is the place - should anyone wish to apply.

http://www.seafariireland.com/trip.htm

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Amos
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 10:31 AM

Ach, Shambles what a place!!I am half-doomed to run off to it!! Good thing it is winter -- it dampens the temptation!!

A

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: ScuttleBob
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 10:44 AM

Hey Folks, What a wonderful session! The underwater 'Soundsystem' I used for that encounter [in1967] was called 'the Gertrude', which was a set-up with speakers & a microphone in CIC [combat information center], and another speaker mike set-up, under the ship. The original intent of this system, was to allow the ship to communicate with other ships, without breaking radio silence [in battle conditions]. The Water was the sound carrier.
    In truth, I believe the ship itself, becomes an accoustic resonator for sound [like the sound box of a guitar], as does the whales body, when it sings. Because of its density, water carries sound far better than air[5X better, I think], and so, whales & ships[filled with air], submerged in that dense medium [H2O]are great sound generators!
    The combination of a pipe band-and the dancing feet, pounding on the deck must certainly have created quite a stir in the Cetacean Community- & probably became the topic of many a Humpback-Ballad, whose strains perhaps, echo still, across the Universe,from their recording aboard the Voyager Spacecraft.
    A couple Years ago, I went aboard a Whale-Watch boat-out from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. During Jan & Feb, we get a pod of juvenile Humpback & Fin Whales-feedin on some of that Chesapeake Chum!
Anyway it was a no-show day, in the whale-watching business-so I whipped out my concertina, held it over the side & began playing some tunes,...in about 10 minutes, a young humpback surfaced, right next to the boat, & stayed listening for a good while.
    I just hope this new high-powered Sonar dosen't prohibit further encounters of this kind. Sound is so essential to the existence of these warm blooded cousins!

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 10:46 AM

Charley, I thought the brand was Stormalong Johns.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: JohnB
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:18 PM

Surely this is merely a continuation of the old nautical tradition of "SEA CHANTERS" :)
JohnB.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: ced2
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 01:30 PM

Not quite right M. Eric le Rouge, but you are on the right track. The highland pipes as we know them were, as you know, an awful mistke by a famous but anonymous Irish pipe maker. Upon hearing the fearful noise that his invention created gave (and that's an important bit) the offending set of pipes to a Scotsman. This chappie sought to make some money out of this piece of what would could only be described as wretched ill-luck. One of his brainwaves was to send the pipes to sea with the Loch na Gar Whaling fleet. The effect was devastating, whales throwing themselves at the factory ship when they heard the pipes tuning up. Powerful conservationists acted fearing a complete wipe out of the whales having the practice outlawed. But the secret was out so they changed the spelling to wailing.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Uke
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 02:33 PM

Personally, I think the whales' did have musical good taste in this matter - otherwise they would have boycotted the concert, by high-tailing it, though perhaps they did consider taking a 'direct action' protest.

ScuttleBob - Thanks for the concertina story, this I think, is the proof we are looking for, without having to take to sea with the Edinburgh Tattoo. (By the way I hope you're planning another concert tour Downunder...??)

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 11:29 PM

G'day ScuttleBob,

Thanks for the details of your mid-Atlantic encounter (it helps my mental image as I listen to Ocean Station Bravo) ... and the great story about your concertina calling in a young humpback!

Maybe it is encumbent on us musicians to slip out to sea on quiet sailing or rowing craft ... and play a few melodies by way of apology for all that sonar, prop wash and bilge!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: ScuttleBob
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:59 AM

So, folks, One last yarn, concerning Cetaceans & Music. I was in Bermuda, in 2000, doing a gig for the Bermuda Folk Club [Wonderful bunch of Folks], and saw a 'Swim with the Dolphins' ad. Now, I guess I'd always been opposed to that kind of thing, creatures in bondage etc...but my curiosity got the best of me-and the weather was Fine! So I make a reservation for a 10am session-and off I go. Well, this Dolphin encounter took place at an old fort. There were a half dozen folks[myself included], and an equal number of dolphins...plus three attendants-and it was a wonderful experience. The dolphins appeared to be treated well & with a great deal of respect, and the attendants seemed to have a nice working relationship with them. We went through a variety of activities [check out the pic at; http://members.aol.com/bobzentz/booking.html]. When the session ended, I chatted a bit with the staff-who said they were off to lunch for the next hour-So I asked if I might stick around and serenade these new-found friends...they agreed, then left, so out comes the concertina, I sit on the side of the pool, feet in the water & I begin
to play...Well first, the Dolphin, with whom I was paired, in the session begins circling and at his closest point rolls side up with a cautiously curious expression. I play on, my friend brings two more buddies over, circling all the while, then the three dive under, and come up 'Spy hopping'[vertical in the water], in a perfect equilateral triangle, & as I play, the three begin to revolve, clockwise...I increase the tempo, and they're soon spinning,-perfectly correographed, with the music. They piroetted & I played-on, til the attendents returned-and the performance was over. Quite a marvelous experience- hypnotic, creative, communication. Wish You'd been there!
Sweet Songs & Fair Winds,...ScuttleBob Z

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: ScuttleBob
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:45 AM

Hey, Uke, is there any connection between the Robertson that wrote 'Salt Sea Tang', and Harry Robertson?

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:26 AM

G'day again ScuttleBob,

I see that Angus Cameron Robertson " ... was a Highland Scot who went to sea as a boy (probably in the mid-19th century) before settling many years later in Dunedin, New Zealand ...".

Harry Robertson was a working-class boy in in Barrhead, Glasgow (lowlands ... and shipbuilding). From the shipyards his world was expanded by Royal Navy service during WW II. He first went whaling in the Antarctic in 1949-51 ... then, having settled in Australia, worked with coastal whaling stations on the Queensland coast. Harry also worked in shipyards around Brisbane.

There might be some distant relationship ... but it looks tenuous.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Uke
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:08 PM

Howdy guys - Yes you're right Bob, I'd say there'd be no actual connection with Harry Robertson.

Angus Robertson was at least a generation earlier, born in Broadford, on the Isle of Skye. Apart from fishing and seafaring he worked as the following:

"I've helped to biuld gold dredges, and worked on them after they were built. I worked in gravel pits and helped to make roads. I earned a living painting, gardening and splicing ropes. I wielded the hammer for a blacksmith. During another stunt, I broke 250 cords of firewood. I've been a minister of religion in this country [NZ] for years, and during that stunt I got a church built, and helped to build other institutions. I've been very successful at insuring life, for this world and for the life to come."

He also spoke and wrote poetry in Gaelic (and English) and could read Latin, Spanish and Italian too. Quite some fellow.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Cool Beans
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 05:24 PM

Wha-wha, wha-wha-wha,
Wha-whaling with pipes.
Saggy pipes, raggy pipes,
Baggypipes,too...

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: Mingulay
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 05:37 PM

It's not relevant to whaling, but there was a piper busking all afternoon today in Uxbridge town centre standing out in the wind and rain wearing just a tee shirt and kilt. He played for about 5 hours virtually non-stop and not once did I hear 'Amazing Grace' thank god. Pibrochs, laments, jigsnreels etc etc. Wonderful stuff, fair lifted the spirit on a horrible day.

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: GUEST,The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:31 PM

"And my uncle Ahab goes waltzing with whales...."

KYBTTS

Subject: RE: Whaling with Bagpipes
From: robinia
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 12:21 AM

For serenading wildlife with an even smaller musical instrument, what about the mouth organ? It transfixed a moose for me in the Bowron Lakes wilderness ("keep on playing" my picture-taking friend said), and chipmunks have shown an interest too...