Heather-

Here's what Doerflinger says in his introduction to this song:

"One song of this sort concerns a voyage made in 1896 in the schooner Kandahar of Lunenburg. The words were received in 1931 from Captain Thomas Conrad of Rose Bay, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, one of the last survivors of the Kandahar's "jolly crew." Captain Conrad said was by Sepley Collin, a shipmate on the voyage it narrates. Mr. Collin later lost his life at sea. The tune was by a younger man, Captain Frank Rise, a Banks fisherman also hailing from Rose Bay." (From Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman, p. 196)

Hope this is helpful.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble