Norman Jamieson was born in Yell but spent most of his life living in Leith, Edinburgh until he retired to Lerwick.
Jamieson followed in his family’s footsteps in starting a career at the whaling in South Georgia. His father had been at the whaling and his brother, Hamish, went four years before him. Jamieson recalls it was a tough start on the whaling catcher ships, when he first went aboard Southern Wheeler he was seasick for a week. With only his canvas kit bag to keep him in his bunk!
He soon got over this and slowly, began to enjoy more responsibility. Sometimes, learning the hard way with some close run ins to other vessels. Noting that this was when his time at the whaling became most enjoyable when he knew the jobs on the catchers inside and out. During his time at the whaling he did two winter seasons working at Leith Harbour, where he, like many others learned to ski and competed in sports days.
Jamieson is a talented craftsperson, he created some ship-in-a-bottles and was kind enough to donate one of Southern Wheeler to South Georgia Museum. It was common for people to have crafts to keep them occupied during the winter or to create crafts inspired by their experiences in South Georgia, as Jamieson did.
Jamieson was lucky enough to return to South Georgia working on supply boats between the Falklands and South Georgia, as well as for environmental clean up in the 1990s. He said it was incredible to return but that the life had gone from the place with there being “no steam whistles. No movement.”
Jamieson has been a long standing member of both Salvesen’s Ex-Whalers Club and Shetland Ex-Whalers Association.