The oldest recorded version of the song I've heard is from one of
the old MacColl/Lloyd/Edwards records; 'Haul on the Bowline,' I
think was the name of the album.

They sang the "Liverpool to Frisco" variant, and had no Irish
references, unless I recall wrongly. That's also the version I've
heard Lou Killen sing:

From Liverpool to Frisco a rovin' I went
for to stay in that country was my good intent
but with drinking strong liquor like other damned fools
I soon was transported back to Liverpool

For 42 days we was hungry and sore,
the winds were against us; the gales they did roar
off Battery Point we were anchored at last
with our jibboom hove in and our canvas made fast

The boarding house masters were off in a trice...

After that it's the same general thing.

Variants on the last line's Bowdlerization I've heard
include "keep yer hat on yer head and your feet on the floor"

Also, "your head'll be thick and your fid'll be sore."

I'd suppose the variant to be a Gold Rush era song--- explaining
the intent of our man to stay in California, and jump ship
for the gold fields. Also the very real risk of being
"shanghai'd" (at risk of mixing a metaphor) due to the fact
that crews back from San Francisco were very hard to assemble
when the gold fields beckoned.