Wellerman

The "wellermen" were supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, three merchant traders in the 1800s who were amongst the earliest European settlers of the Otago region of New Zealand.

[7] From 1833, the Weller brothers sold provisions to whalers in New Zealand from their base at Otakou, which they had named "Otago" in approximation of the local Māori pronunciation.

[11] However, given that the Colony of New Zealand would not be declared until 1840, the Wellers were treated as foreign traders and were affected by protectionist British import tariffs on whale oil.

[10] By 1835, the year that Joseph Weller died in Otago, the brothers became convinced of the need to abandon the station even as they branched out into massive land purchases in New Zealand, which amounted to nearly 3 million acres (12,000 km2) by 1840.

[11] The Weller brothers' success in the whaling industry was fleeting, and they were declared bankrupt in 1840 after failed attempts at large-scale land purchase in New South Wales.

In the last verse, the narrator conveys how the Billy o' Tea is still considered locked in an ongoing struggle with the whale, with the wellerman making "his regular call" to strengthen the captain and crew.

David Hunter Rogers was a first-generation Scottish immigrant who worked in the Union Company beginning in 1880; Wellerman does not resemble "John Smith A.B."

[16] In the wake of the "ShantyTok" social media sensation in 2021, Wellington Sea Shanty Society member Lake Davineer remarked that their recording had experienced a new burst of popularity.

Evans's version has been praised for its "authentic sense of stoic forbearance" that has appealed to young people in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, who like 19th-century whalers "are similarly marking time".

[30] Crew members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, including those from Portishead and Sheringham, also submitted video for the performance, and Queen guitarist Brian May provided a guitar solo.

[31][32] In the seven countries where the remix has reached the top of the record charts, 200 non-fungible tokens were sold, which each include a new dance track, digital art, and a password redeemable for a future asset, with part of their proceeds going to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and a scholarship by 220 Kid.

[33] The version sparked multiple parodies, both on and off TikTok, including a Taylor Swift hit sung to the tune of Evans' version of "Wellerman" performed by the United States Navy Band, a Roman Catholic priest who changed the shanty's lyrics to explain Ash Wednesday, and a parody called Waiting for the Vaccine by Rainer Hersch.