Does sound like it. A version in Hugill (Shanties from the Seven Seas) has the line "We're bound away to seek for gold," about the same as "We're going away to hunt for gold."

I remember reading a history of the gold-rush to California- can't remember the title- about the number of ships abandoned by crews who took off to the goldfields; some of these ships never made it out of the Bay and were used in temporary constructions there.