Here's another song about the Ship Canal; THE SHIP CANAL SONG,  or THE MARY, sung by Gary and Vera Aspey on From the North, Topic 1975.

A hundred years before the building of the Ship Canal, the River Irwell was a busy waterway with packet boats drawn by teams of horses and supplemented by a square-rigged sail. They started at any hour of the day or night, timed to catch the ebb tide at Runcorn, where passengers for Liverpool were transferred to a larger boat. The Mary was the first seagoing vessel to make the journey to Manchester on October 20, 1840.

The Ship Canal Song was published on a handbill in 1840 by Wilmot Henry Jones of Market Street, Manchester. Ian Woods added the chorus calling for support for the building of the Ship Canal,
which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1894.

---

The Ship Canal Song -   Gary and Vera Aspey on YouTube    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O03Ie1ylC6U
Another song on YouTube about this theme from Gary & Vera Aspey is Manchester Ship Canal    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1JerOXpAgM