GUEST,Al M -- Rather than being "from a crew of whalers" the song Row On was presented as a log book entry copied from a Victorian novel. In the novel the song was sung as a warning to the Thames River boatman not to stop and deliver a clandestine letter as there were visitors in the house. To that effect the original last line of the chorus was "Thou must not come tonight" rather than "There's dawn beyond the night." Tim Laycock's lyric change, quite brilliant IMHO, completely changes the thrust of the song.