possibly they travelled down south from Yarmouth to Scarboro, hoping to miss the bad weather......via the Isle of Wight.

I mean......seriously!

I think what gives the lie to it, isn't the faullty navigation. Where would folksongs be if you dismissed them on grounds of Geography - The land of California, Sweet Home Chicago possibly.   

Fishing people by and large are optimists - you couldn't do the job otherwise. yes the working conditions are shitty. yes people get killed doing it - the safety standards are unquantifiable.....

But if you felt as pissed off as most people sound, singing this song, you'd be slashing your wrists rather than setting out to sea.