Hey, longtime reader, first time contributer. I've recently been 'diving in' to the world of shantying, and have found this forum to be an amazing resource.

Bully in the Alley is one of my favorite songs, and I wanted to learn a little more about it.
There's a youtube video where Tom Lewis presents a wonderfully colorful explanation for the meaning of "Bully in the Alley" that seems to expand a bit on the standard notion that it merely refers to a drunken sailor. Tom Lewis claims that this explanation was given to him by none other than Stan Hugill. I will do my best to transcribe this, although the video is worth watching, as Tom Lewis can be seen doing a marvelous Hugill impression. (i'll post the link below)
Hugill:
"on a traditionally rigged ship, if the standing rigging is made of natural fiber, it tends to stretch. If it's not kept tight, the mast will tend to flop to one side or the other, which is not really too much of a problem except for the helmsman. Because the helmsman will be at his wheel, he'll be following his course, and be nicely on his course, and suddenly the mast will FLOP to one side, as the wind has changed, or the sea direction has changed. Suddenly, he's got to compensate for that. And he'll just get it nicely back on its course when the mast will FLOP the other way, and he'd suddenly have to compensate for that! So he's sort of steering in the right direction, but he's only making an approximate course. At that point, the ship is said to be 'Bully in the Alley'..........The sailor in the song has spent too long in a tavern, and he's trying to get back to his ship, but he's only steering an approximate course. So he's calling for his mates to give him some help."

I'm interested that I've never come across this particular explanation anywhere else. Not knowing anything about sailing myself, I'm hoping somebody else has stumbled on this particular explanation for the more obscure nautical expression (as opposed to the standard one about being blind drunk in an alley) and could shed more light on it.......Cheers

Hugill Explanation as Recounted by Tom Lewis