I have a vague memory (which in my case is probably a redundant statement)of a version that began with the cabin boy and went up the chain of command, passing some bit of nautical normalcy along the line f.d.b. Like:

The bosun to the third mate said, I think you ought to know,
The men have lashed their hammocks and there's fire down below.

And the chorus as I recall it was

Fire! Fire! Fire down below!
Bring, bring the buckets, girls, there's fire down below.

When the captain finally got around to telling the admiral, there was some anti-climactic remark that put the capper on it all, but it's been too many years for me even to remember whose version that was. I wanna say Smothers Brothers, but that's probably (a) wrong and (b) enough to bar me forever from the Serious Folkists' Union.

CC