[Lyric] Last of the Hunters (Skipinnish)

[Verse]
Here's a health to the fishermen who plough the lonely sea
And battle with the ocean where it's in their blood to be
Dear the fruitful bounty of the blind and savage foam
They are the last of the hunters and they're proudly sailing home

Away to the fishing ground against a flooding tide
The hunters of wild, now the last in our time
Through living gale and storm they sail, the crystal sea they roam
They're the heart of every harbour when the boats come sailing home

[Chorus]
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home

[Verse]
From the mighty fleets of Yarmouth to the deep sea ships of Hull
The famous Fleetwood trawlers all have suffered from the cull
In Lossiemouth, Lochinver, Fisherrow and Pittenweem
Golden days and memories, now a fading dream
Quiet now the harbours where the distant echo rings
Eriskay and Scalpay where the herring men were kings
Laden deep for Stornoway, the skipper's chair a throne
Legends of the sea and still their ghosts are sailing home

[Chorus]
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home

[Verse]
A realm of strong intrepid men and heroes of renown
A shadow of the past, traded off and torn down
The pawns of politicians' games, lives ravage to the bone
But still they go to sea and still the boats come sailing home

And in Newlyn, Plymouth, Weymouth, Poole, The Wash and Grimsby Town
North Shields and Eyemouth, Peterhead, the Broch, they'll hold their ground
Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides, in Oban and Kintyre
Kilkeel, the Isle of Mann and Killybegs, they will not die

So we'll toast the Malaig trawlers and the creel men of the west
Pelagic ships of Whalsay and the seiners of Caithness
Brixham beemers, Cornish crabbers and in every pier and cove
We'll give them a welcome at the harbour when the boats come sailing home.
[Chorus]
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home
Sailing home
Sailing home
The last of the hunters sailing home