Thanks, Carol (we cross-posted too).

"he thinks it means to put the sheet on the main boom (or to prepair the sail somehow on the main boom)" -

I was thinking along those lines; it seems plausible if I understand the other stuff correctly.

"Or it could be one of the many lines in Newfoundland songs that are not intended to make any sense (being intended as nonsense lines)."

I don't think so, since everything else in the verse makes sense - unless it was a sly hint that Bob Pittman isn't quite the seaman he claims to be (see Jamie Snider's post on the "When I First Came to Caledonia" thread), but that seems inconsistent with the rest of the song.

(Jim: Sorry for the thread hijack - I just thought this would be a good place to find some Nfldrs and nautical types).