At the 1982 Sea Music Festival, Mystic Seaport, 13th June, in the final concert of the event, staff chanteyman Bob Crowley led "Whaling Johnny".

There is a recording of this in the Seaport's Collections.

Crowley had been on the staff at that time for only about a month and a half, but the way he introduced the song leads me to infer that it was pretty commonly sung and/or well-established around the Seaport at/by that time. It was a year since Hugill had sung it at a similar event there.

Crowley sang the following (transcribed by me from recording):

When Whaling Johnny went to sea
    W J high-o
A randy dandy lad was he
    All down the way to Hilo

His gal had found another flame
So he did treat her just the same

His girl had married a sailor bold
So WJ's heart turned cold

Of rum he drunk a steamin' dram
Says he, I'll go and fish for sperm

So he sailed on board of a whalin' bark
Says he, I'll have a damned fine lark

He sailed into the Zulu (sic) Sea
Where he fished for sperm and manatee

When WJ he came back
He'd shellfish a growin' down his back

Despite the familiarity implied by Crowley, the audience wasn't quick to join in. I'd guess that the general community wasn't familiar with the song, but that the Seaport staff had been doing it a lot in the past year so it seemed more established to Crowley. Just a guess. In any case, they had evidently "processed" it a bit.