Lassie.

Thread creep alert - Tedious Discussion on Meaning of Obsolete Nautical Expressions. Dave, that never occurred to me. I always thought (but don't know why) that BBR was from a band of red felt lining in a make of American sea-boot, and seen as a bright red band when the top was fashionably turned down. And by extension, any seaman from the USA. As far as I know, Royal Marines were always "Johnnies". (Here's a verse you might like :- "We made our way across the Bay a-heading for the Line/ with skys'ls set and the stays all taut/ the Trades they blew so fine./ Our johnnies all were fighting cocks/ good seamen all were we/ for hand and steer and reef my boys, we all worked manfully." - Amphitrite.)

So I think BBR was more likely originally an American rather than British shanty. There is a huge sheaf of previous threads on BBR, which I'd rather not go through.