OK, so...

THE CLIPPER SHIP "SHEILA" (1921) is a diary of a voyage of a Captain W.H. Angel, in 1877, round trip from Liverpool with stops in Calcutta, Trinidad, and Guyana.

As they leave Demerara at one point, he notes this shanty:
//
Solo. Sally am de gal dat I lub dearly,
O Sally am de gal dat I lub dearly.

Chorus. Way, sing Sally,
Hilow, John Brown,
Stand to your ground.

Solo. Sally am de gal dat I lub dearly.
Her cheek so red an' her hair so curly.

Chorus.

Solo. Sally, she's a Badian bright mu-lat-to ;
Seven long years I courted Sally.

Chorus.

Solo. Nebber mind de weather, but keep yo's legs to-ged-der,
Fair land ob England, soon be showing.

Chorus.

General Chorus.
Stand to your ground, and walk him up lively.
Or de Bosun he come 'round a dingin and a dangin
Hilo, John Brown stand to your ground.
//

The Grand ("General") Chorus is interesting. This one also lacks the "Sally-O," which I allege was a contrivance of the Lloyd school.

It's unclear to me whether there might have been actual notated music in the book, because I am getting this off an Internet version produced with an optical text converter scanner thingey. There are, however, lots of ellipses between syllables, as if the text might be stretched out under a music staff. Has anyone got the actual published version?

For the record, here are other shanties quoted in the text. They are not index; one has to just pick them out (hopefully I didn't miss any):

Outward Bound
Unmooring
Good-bye Fare You Well ("...we're outward bound")
Across the Western Ocean ("Sheila whar you bound to?")
Bound for the Rio Grande
Reuben Rantzau
Sally Brown
Stormalong ("ay-ay-ay")
Poor Old Man
Drunken Sailor
Johnny Boker
Paddy Doyle
So Handy My Girls
Whiskey Johnnie
Poor Paddy Works on the Railway
Blow the Man Down
A Roving
Rolling Home
Hawl Away, Jo
Stand to Your Ground ("Hilo John Brown")
One More Day
Spanish Ladies

The entire book, which deals with transportation of indentured laborers in India to colonies in the Caribbean, should be fascinating reading. I notice that it has been reissued in a new edition somewheres. Something to add to the book wish-list...

Gibb