Trevor Grills: the terrible death of a Fisherman’s Friend

I first came to discover the beauty of the Cornish shanty singers Fisherman’s Friends when I was on holiday in the West Country last year. I was late to the game and had bought a copy of their CD at Port Isaac on a whim. I assumed it was a novelty record that I would play once or twice on the car stereo on the way home. But as soon I heard the first phrase of the first tune, ‘Shanty Man’, I was hooked, reeled in, netted by the passion of this singing. The whole family was. And we know that CD by heart.

Of all the songs, some humorous, some celebratory, some plain miserable, one stood out. ‘The Last Leviathan’, a lament to the death of a great whale, is quite simply one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. The lead is taken by Trevor Grills, a builder who just happens to have the gift of a naturally expressive tenor that communicates all the terrible tragedy of the song.