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Deep Sea Tug

[Harry Robertson (1923-1995)]

Steve Turner sang North Sea Tug in 1982 on his Fellside album Jigging One Now. He noted:

Harry Robertson, from Paisley, Scotland, wrote this song about his experiences during World War II, after which he emigrated to Australia where he has since recorded an album of the many fine songs written about his days on the Australian whaling fleets. I learned this from my good friend and Australian extraordinaire, Bruce Millar, who was also brave enough to entrust me with his best concertina for three weeks to make this record.

Steve Turner returned to this song in 2026 on his Tradition Bearers CD A Host of Furious Fancies on which he noted:

I learnt this song from my Australian friend Bruce Millar, when he came to stay with me while studying for his PhD in Manchester in the late 1970s with his girlfriend Sheila. It was the first song that the late Harry Robertson wrote when he was serving in the Merchant Navy as a ship’s engineer after WW2. A true story, that he experienced while working on the deep-sea tugs towing floating docks up and down the north-east coast of Scotland. In 1952 he moved to Australia, and worked on the Antarctic whaling fleets out of Leith Harbour, South Georgia, and from Moreton Bay, Queensland, on the Pacific whaling fleets. It was here that he started to write and record his most well-known songs, to be found on his only LP, Whale Chasing Men (1971) featuring The Wee Pot Stove, The Antarctic Fleet, Queensland Whalers etc. Bruce knew Harry, who died in 1985. I first recorded this song on my second album, Jigging One Now, in 1982 with Nic Jones accompanying. Sadly, this turned out to be his last recording before the terrible accident which ended his career as one of the finest interpreters of folk songs the British folk scene.

Danny Spooner sang Deep Sea Tug in 1986 on his Sandstock album I Got This One From…. He noted:

Deep Sea Tug is the work of the great song-crafter Harry Robertson who lives in Queensland. Harry was aboard the tug in 1945 when the events mentioned occurred. I learned this song from Sally Henderson in early 1985, and as I was once a salvage tug skipper the song brings back many memories for me. Apart from that I know no other songs about tugs which were so much a part of my early life.

Lyrics

Please find the lyrics for this song at Harry Robertson’s website.

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