Features / Sooth Georgia – ‘Dere shø blaas!’ (pairt 2)
Dis is pairt o a series o tree peecis o writeens aboot Sooth Georgia. Sooth Georgia sits oot bi himsel eight-hundir mile fae da Falklands an ower a thoosan mile fae Antarctica. Da island is famed fir its connecshun til explorers an da amazin wildlife tae be fun dere. Fir maist Shetlanders, da connecshun til Sooth Georgia is trow da industrial whaleen. Earlier in da simmer South Georgia Heritage Trust launched da Whalers’ Memory Bank. Dis is da second pairt o writeens by Helen Balfour spikin aboot whit life wis lik fir whalers wirkin in Sooth Georgia an whit maed dem leave dir homs tae traivel tidda ends o da ert.
If you wir apün a whale catcher near da Sooth Ice “dere shø blaas” widda bøn a comeen skrech. Da shø in question widda bøn a whal bein shistit bi da catchers.
Becis o Svend Foyn’s invenshuns whal catchers wis faster an mair adaptable tae shist muckle whals idda Suddern Ocean.
Men fae Shetland laevin hem tae ging tidda whaleen fir da first time widda traivelled wi idder fokk at wir bøn afore. Fir mony, gyaan tidda whaleen at 16 widda bøn da first time dey wir ivver left hem, maybe even dir ain isle in Shetland. Hit certainly wisna a straightforrad trip, takkin aboot six week tae win tidda isle.
At da time, some plaessis in Shetland hedna mony jobs. Shetlanders ir alwys hed tae leave tae look fir wark in idder plaessis an dis wis nae idder. Da herd economic situatshun maent at da whalers wid be able tae save a bra scar ower dir simmer wirkin at da whalin. Den dey cüd be back fir da Shaetlan simmer tø.
De wir chances tae laern new skills tø an wirk yir wye up while you wir idda company. Anidder good thing aboot da whaleen fir some wis da chance tae miss oot on National Service, becis o da importance o da whaleen Post-War fir feedin da country.
Hit süd be notit at de wir nae sic a profeshun as ‘whaler’. Fokk at güd wis skilled in aa different things an becis o da size o da set-ups hit ran lik a peerie toon, wheddir aboard factory ship or whaleen stashun. Aa da stashuns hed tae be completely self-sufishint firbye. Dey widda hed fokk wirkin in factories processin da whals, electricians, blacksmiths, mess boys, managers, chemists, doctors, deck haands, radio operators, captains an da rest. Aa dat tae say at da wark raelly varied fae een tae een.
Fokk alwys windir aboot whit you widda døn in yir spare time. Raelly, da fokk wirkin dere wis dere tae wirk. Dey widda taen a lok o extrie oors o owertime whin dey cüd. Bit in doon moments, or if you bed trowe da winter, fokk widda played cairds we een anider, played music an maed crafts tagidder. Mony a brace in Shetland is hem tae a carved whal tooth idda shaep o a penguin!
Sport wis a pairt o da doontime o da whalers as weel. Fitbaa or ping-pong idda simmer an skiin idda winter. Some o da stashuns an ships hed a peerie cinema as weel, an dis maed a fun for fokk bidin dere – actin as a stage whin performances wis held as weel.
Fae aa da memories captured idda Whalers’ Memory Bank, een o da main themes at comes tidda fore is da freendship. A lok o dem spannin decades an across generashuns.
Da bonds forged idda Suddern Ocean dunna fade lightly an dat is still so claer sixty year fae da end o da whaleen. Da gaffs, funs, disasters an memories spokken aboot an shared atween fokk fae dis time wis a graet thing tae be able tae capture in some peerie wye.
Read da nixt piece idda series tae fin oot aboot Sooth Georgia noo an da Whalers’ Memory Bank projict. Fin oot mair at https://whalersmemorybank.sgmuseum.gs/
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