The Final Trawl is aptly the final song given in Roy Palmer's The Oxford Book of Sea Songs. It was written in 1979 by Archie Fisher. It is a beautiful, poignant song about the final days of fishing out from Scotland, probably Peterhead or Aberdeen, on an unnamed vessel on her final voyage. It is easy for me to identify with its sentiments having witnessed the end of the fishing industry in Bremen-Vegesack, my home town for so many years, and having served the whole of final commission on my beloved H.M.S. Victorious.
Having had Archie Fisher's definitive version ringing in my ears, I never expected to to come to sing it myself (an Englishman singing such a Scottish song?). That changed when joining the Tyneside Maritime Chorus in early 2011 as they sing it quite often - the Tynesiders know an awful lot about the fishing industry too!
This song may be found in the Tyneside Maritime Chorus songbook

Lyrics