Thanks for inspiring me to keep following the BON thread, Reinhard.

Colcord's book came to mind — another book that we *know* MacColl used as a source for sailor songs.

Colcord actually introduces BON with the text from VDL. So she did that move before Hugill did, and she established it as a sea song. Further, although she gives a tune to BON, she gives none for VDL.

This leads me to think that MacColl saw the VDL text in Colcord and matched it to the tune of BON on the next page. In fact, MacColl's later BON does follow quite closely the version of BON in Colcord.

I am thinking that MacColl worked up a rendition of VDL by taking the BON tune from Colcord and *also* blending some of the lyrics from Colcord's BON into it. The last verse of his VDL, in particular, corresponds to a verse in BON in a way that seems too similar to have been an accident IMO.