OK, so I broke down and bought the book, with music and lyrics by Dillon Bustin and very nice illustrations by Susan Convery Foltz. Here are the lyrics from the book:

THIRTY DIRTY SAILORS
(Dillon Bustin)

Oh, my father is the captain of a sailing ship,
A whaling ship, he takes long trips,
And he asked me and my brother if we'd like to see
Waikiki in the Southern Seas,
And I said, What would I do?
All alone on ship with Mother and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my mother said to me that I should take a book,
A writing book, is all it took,
And in it I should write a little every day,
Along the way, Of what I had to say.
And I said, What else could I do?
All alone on a ship with Father and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my father said to me that I'd have fun indeed,
I could learn to read, collect seaweed,
And listen to Hawaiian children play guitars,
Under tropic stars on an ocean far.
And I said, Maybe 'twould do?
All alone on a ship with Mother and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my mother said to me if I would rather stay down
in Edgartown I could sit around and...
Listen to the teachers in the public school,
Memorize their rules on a straight-back stool.

And I said, There'll be plenty to do!
All alone on a ship with Father and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

And so we went to sea,
My mother,
My father,
Thirty dirty sailors,
and me.