The melody is the same as Kevin Barry, but precedes it. There are
versions of this song in just about every country where sailors crewed tall ships - versions in German, Scandinavian, Dutch, versions from Canada,Australia.
The version that we sang with Calennig comes from a shanty I recorded 30 years ago from the late Captain Frank Parker, of Sketty, Swansea, who was one of Swansea's last surviving Cape Horners. He told me it was the favourite song with all the Swansea barque crews when they were bringing the ships back into port at the end of their voyages to the copper ore ports in South America:

ROLLING HOME TO DEAR OLD SWANSEA

Come all hands to man the capstan, see your cable is all clear;
For today we're leaving anchor, for the shore of Wales we'll steer;
Mark your capstan bar right well, boys, every man you've got, clap on;
As we heave around the capstan you can hear our happy song:

CHORUS: Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home across the sea,
       Rolling home to dear old Swansea, rolling home, dear land, to thee;
       Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home across the sea,
       Rolling home to dear old Swansea, with old Ireland on our lee.

Up aloft, amid the rigging spreading out her snow white sail,
Like a bird upon the ocean, speeding on before the gale,
I can hear the bosun calling: "See your sheets and halyards clear,
And prepare for stormy weather as around Cape Horn we'll steer."

Many thousand miles behind us, many thousand miles before,
Spreading ocean waves to guide us till we reach that happy shore.
When I see the lights of Swansea then my anchor soon I'll drop,
And farewell to all our shipmates, for we've reached our homeland dock.

The song is available on Calennig's 1985 album Dyddiau Gwynion Ionawr/Snowy Days of January (Sain C935N) which is now available only in cassette - unless you're in Japan, where it's on CD.

The format doesn't change a hell of a lot between the different versions. This is the only version I have heard with the double length chorus, though. On the international theme: When we sang in Mariehavn, the capital of the Aland Islands in the middle of the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland, we met up with the local shanty group. Their name? Rolling Home, of course!
Mick Tems