In the version I found on http://shanty.rendance.org, the line is:
Oh a long-tailed sailor man comin' up behind.
The Spinners sang the song as Whip Jamboree and sang:
With your pig-tail, sailor, hanging down behind
Metrolyrics.com have it as:
Long-tailed black bird come up behind
jwpepper.com have it as
Oh you some-time sailor haul upon the line.
Genius.com has:
Oh a long-tailed black man come up behind
thejovialcrew.com have:
With a long-tailed sailor man comin' up behind!

These are just the variants found on the first page on the google search engine.