I'm not sure anyone is reading this old thread, but I'm searching for the version of the song that Judy described. My father sang this song (and played it on the guitar) to me when I was a child in the 1970s. And the melody is completely different from the version linked to above. The opening of the melody leaps up a fifth and then goes down (g'-c''-c''-a'-g'-e'-c for "come gather round me children").

I remember the lyrics almost exactly as Nancy described them.
"Now gather around me children, to tell the truth I'm bound.
Here's a story 'bout when I went to sea, & the wonders that I found.
Shipwrecked was I one wintry day, & cast out on the shore.
I decided I'd wander away, the country to explore, The country to explore"

The end of the song "Digging my way ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-out" is a scalar ascent, and the final word "out" is held over several chord changes.

Is there anyone out there who knows of any versions of this song, or recordings, etc.? I feel like my Dad must have learned this from a recording while he was in college in the 1960s.