Carpenter recorded at least three versions of "Tommy's [or 'Johnny's'] Gone to Hilo" during his trip to Great Britain in 1928-29. The tunes of all three are comparable but the lyrics differ somewhat.

Rees Baldwin of Barry was one of Carpenter's most vigorous sailor singers. (Carpenter also spells the name "Reece Baldwin" and "Reese Baldwyn.) His version, complete, was

Johnny's gone and I'll go too !
    O, O, O, Hylo !
Oh, Johnny's gone and I'll go too !
    Johnny's gone to Hylo !

Baldwin was in his 70s when he sang for Carpenter, but his exceptional energy shines through despite the poor quality of the recording.

Alexander Henderson of Dundee sang it this way :

Oh, Tommy's gone and I'll go too,
      Hee-way ! Hy-oh !
Oh, Tommy's gone and I'll go too,
      Tom's gone to Hylo !

James S. Scott of London was one of Carpenter's most prolific contributors. He went to sea in the 1860s. About 80 when he was recorded, his diction is unfortunately very hard to make out, as though he may have been recovering from an illness. Still, we're lucky that we can listen at all to a voice from so long ago (Scott may have been born as early as 1848 or '49). His performances convey a kind of light-heartedness in spite of everything.

Only the first of Scott's stanzas (the one posted earlier by Snuffy) is at all clear. Carpenter titled the song "Tom's Gone to Ilo" :

Tommy's gone to Liverpool,
      Hi-yo, Hee-lo,
Tommy's gone to Liverpool,
      Tom's gone to Heelo.

[Similarly :] He's gone to see[k ?] the Yankee shores.

The Yankee boys, they're [cunning rogues ?]
They're [handy ?] boys, they've [caught us all ?]

[The boys and girls, they wear fine clothes ?]

BELAY THERE !

These performances and many more are available on the two Carpenter CDs available from Folktrax. Though the sound quality of the original recordings is mostly awful, hard core shanty singers can only profit from listening closely. All the melodies come through and many of the old-time mannerisms.