Lighter--
I don't know. I'm just along for the ride!

It turns out that for me, the usefulness of all these fragments and snippets is to get better ideas on how to search for documentation of this song (and discover other things in the process). I also appreciate the greater clarity on where the song fell in relation to work applications and/or being considered as a "chanty."

I forget now where I saw it (!), but one writer said (their interpretation) that the song was about a *Briton* joining a ship of mixed nationalities, and we've now seen that versions with "Paddy" do not necessarily predominate. That compels me to revise my earlier musing in this thread about possibly finding this song among a repertoire of Irish caricature ("Paddy") songs. Which is a good thing.

***

Here's another snippet:

_Yachting_ vol. 55 (1934), pg. 33:

//
Suddenly I paused and listened intently ; the words of a strange song reached my ears like an echo of a by-gone day:

"Arrah!—get back! Take in the slack!
Bear away the capstan, heave a pawl;
'Bout ship! Stations! Boys, be handy.
Raise tacks, sheets; and mains’l haul!”
//