There are versions in the Bodleian Library. Here is one dated c. 1849-1862 (another is dated c. 1855-1858).

Lyr. Add: CANADA, I O

There was a gallant lady all in her tender years,
She was courted by a sailor, 'twas true she loved him dear,
But how to get to sea with him the way she did not know
She fain would see that pretty place called Canada, I O.

She bargained with her sailor all for a purse of gold,
They soon convey'd the lady down into the hold;
We will dress her in sailors' clothes and call her off to plough,
She soon shall see that pretty place called Canada, I O.

Oh, when that her true love heard of the news,
He called the ship's company his passion to pursue;
I'll tie thee hand and foot my love, and overboard I'll throw,
Oh! you shall never see the place called Canada, I O.

It's up spoke our Captain, "Oh, that never can be,
For if you drown this lady, it's hanged we shall be,
We'll dress her up in sailors' clothes, and call her off to plough,
She shall see that pretty place called Canada, I O."

She had not been in Canada scarcely half a-year,
Before the captain married her and made her his dear;
She dresses in silks and satins, she cuts a noble show,
She's the grandest captain's lady in Canada, I O.

Come all you pretty fair maids wherever you may be,
Prove loyal to your husbands in every degree,
For the maid she prov'd false to me the captain he prov'd true,
And it is all for the sake of wearing true blue.

Harding B11 (2920), Printed and Sold at Such's Song Mart, 123, Union Street, Boro'-S. E. Bodleian Library. Also see 2806 c16 (72).

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Fowke and Lomax suggested a Canadian origin, but the song may have come from a UK source. The writers of The Traditional Ballad Index were not aware of the copies in the Bodleian Library.