Basil Lubbock, Deep Sea Warriors (1910). (As the "land of Canaan" was the biblical "Promised Land," I think Lubbock may have missed certain implications of the final couplet):

       "My Sal, she's a 'Badian bright mulatto,
                Wa-ay, sing Sally!
        Sally am de gal dat I lub dearly,
                Hi-lo, John Brown, stan' to yo' ground.

        Stan' to yo' ground an' walk him up likely,       [sic]
                Wa-ay, sing Sally!
        Or de mate come around a-dingin' an' a-dancin',   [sic]
                Hi-lo, John Brown, stan' to yo' ground.

       Seven long year I courted Sally,
                Wa-ay, sing Sally !
        Mebbe mor', but I didn't keep no tally,
                Hi-lo, John Brown, stan' to yo' ground.

       Her cheeks so red an' her hair so curly,
                Wa-ay, sing Sally!

"Here the chanty became unprintable until the last verse, which was quite irrelevant to the rest of it:

        Nebber min' de wedder, but keep yo' legs togedder,
                Wa-ay, sing Sally!
        Fair land o' Canaan soon be a-showin',
                Hi-lo, John Brown, stan' to yo' ground."