The verse
Now the tug is waiting at the Pierhead
To take us down the stream,
Our sails are loosed and our anchor[']s stowed,
So I'll say fare thee well again.
doesn't sound as though it quite fits; it doesn't sound enough to me, somehow; and if the ship was already hitched to the tug, wouldn't he have been aboard long since?

I've always liked it sung rather slow and sad, like a real farewell for a two-year trip would be. It's a very good finishing-off song, especially as an encore to a more lively song.

Steve