In the words of another song “It’s a damn tough life full of toil and strife We whalermen undergo”. For those aboard the Diamond during the 1830 disaster, the lyric was tragically applicable.
By the 1820s the relativity milder northern waters were depleted. Whalemen had to venture further into the Arctic, including Melville Bay in Northwest Greenland, in pursuit of the ‘Right Whale’.
In 1830, fifty British whaleships reached the grounds in early June, a month earlier than expected. The bay was packed with ice floes, which trapped most of the fleet in. Twenty ships were crushed and many whalermen froze or drowned.
Graham generally sees the funny side of life, which is just as well as he spent 35 years working for the telephone company. He started scuba diving with the British Subaqua Club at the age of 16, rode horses through his 20's, became an obsessive windsurfer in his 30's and had a go at free-diving in his 40's. While all of this was going on he rode a bike to keep fit and get to the pub. In later life, in an effort to stave off dementia he has taken up singing and dancing. You may see short stories about these pursuits, but don't expect to read about any degree of prowess as the experiences he can still remember generally relate to (in order) getting bent, crashing a horse (yes, crashing, not just falling off), Windsurfing stupidly in a storm 10, wreck diving without an aqualung, time-trialling with a hangover, singing out of tune and falling on his arse (dancing).
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