A question concerning the DT version;
The boy was taken from St. James's Workhouse in Kings Lynn to sail on the Greenland shored.   I assumed whaling. But the 4th verse suggests "a-navyin'". What would an english navy ship be doing in Greenland in the late 1700's? Maybe Navy as in general seafarers?

I'm skeptical about the New York Trader. Interesting, and possibly related, but is it the one Lloyd mentioned? I wish he gave a more specific reference.

Ralphie, where did you find Captain James, what is it about? Anything that is too explicit to sing in public sounds pretty good to me. Thats probably the reason that this song wasn't recorded more.

Sounds like a Library trip tomorrow, if its not closed by the snow. I'm not bugging you for the heck of it, by the way, I've got a presentation to do for a Ballad course and this is my ballad of choice.