The song (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon_May_the_Wellerman_Come) has gone viral, https://twitter.com/peter_fries/status/1347402323950145537 and I know "tonguing" refers to butchering the carcass.
But there's never any mention of pulling into the harbor, and the song makes it sound like they are waiting for a ship-to-ship resupply and not shore leave. Was there a per-arranged meeting place or were ships just out there hoping to find each other randomly?
There once was a ship that put to sea The name of the ship was the Billy of Tea The winds blew up, her bow dipped down O blow, my bully boys, blow
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
She had not been two weeks from shore When down on her a right whale bore The captain called all hands and swore He'd take that whale in tow
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
Before the boat had hit the water The whale's tail came up and caught her All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her When she dived down below
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
No line was cut, no whale was freed The Captain's mind was not of greed But he belonged to the whaleman's creed She took the ship in tow
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
For forty days, or even more The line went slack, then tight once more All boats were lost, there were only four But still that whale did go
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
As far as I've heard, the fight's still on The line's not cut and the whale's not gone The Wellerman makes his regular call To encourage the Captain, crew, and all
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come To bring us sugar and tea and rum One day, when the tonguin' is done We'll take our leave and go
Whaling fleets often had go to anchorages or other spots near the grounds they would stop at.
In addition to the common ports on the way to their chosen grounds, they would need a few spots that could be used for things like getting fresh water, making repairs at anchor, or over wintering. This was particularly common in the Arctic and Antarctic Grounds.
These places would not have much if any short facilities, just a harbor that a company's ships or ships from the same owner or home port or nation might gather. Doubly true if there were seal populations to be harvested too. Places like South Georgia and Deception Island in the South. And in the Bering Sea you have places like St. Lawrence Island and the Diomedes. And these were not exactly state secrets, for instance during the American Civil War the Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah took and burned nearly half the Yankee whaling fleet in the Bering Sea over the course of 2 weeks mostly around those islands or along the Russian coast.
But also not all whaling was done on a 3 year blow that takes you to the other side of the world.
In many places it is a local occupation, and traces its roots to early settlement of areas and native peoples, and was conducted from the beach in small boats. One of the places this is true for is New Zealand, places like Otago Harbor on the South Island and the Bay of Islands on the North in the first half of the 19th century were major bases for whaling. And it is from New Zealand that the song comes from! In the 1830's and 40's Whaling was THE driver of the economy for the European settlers of the islands, and fleets from as far away as Europe and New England also came on the promise of easy whaling. These bases would be more developed, with processing and storage facilities, and when it is a shore based fleet of course residences for the occupants.
As for their prey it was as noted mostly Right Whales.
Shore-based whalers hunted the black or right whale, which followed established migration routes around the New Zealand coast. In early winter females travelled up the east coast of the South Island. Some passed through Cook Strait, while others went on up the east coast. Along the way they sheltered in harbors such as Otago, Akaroa or Cloudy Bay to calve. Because right whales are big, relatively peaceful, do not usually sink once killed, and produce good quality oil, they were easy targets.
To give you an idea of just how popular these ports were.
In 1838 the Bay of Islands hosted 54 American ships along with 14 British, 18 French and 10 from Sydney.
The Weller brothers owned a trading concern, who were instrumental in establishing the station at Otago Harbor, and now the city of Dunedin in the 1830's to the early 1840's. And one key aspect of that was bringing supplies in from the larger ports like Christchurch or from Australia, with their employees being known as Weller-men. So their vessels would mean fresh supplies or luxuries for the men doing the whaling! The local Maori population that remained was also part of these boom town, selling agricultural products to both whalers and traders it is worth noting too.
If you are interested more in the history of whaling in New Zealand this is a very readable good place to start, and where I pulled the two quotes from! https://teara.govt.nz/en/whaling