Posted up above from Lighter, "Historical Dictionary of American Slang," are the several meanings of hogeye (hogseye).
Captain Whall, "Sea Songs and Shanties, first printed in 1910, is perhaps the best collection of 19th c. sailors work songs.
I haven't found his note or version of "The Hog-Eye Man" in Mudcat threads.

Lyr. Add: THE HOG-EYE MAN
(W. B. Whall)

Solo
Oh! go fetch me down my old riding cane,
For I'm goin' to see my darlin' Jane!
Chorus
And a hog-eye railroad nigger with his hog-eye
Row de boat ashore, and a hog-eye O!
She wants the hog-eye man.

Solo
O the hog-eye men are all the go,
When they come down to San Francisco,
Chorus
In a hog-eye, etc.

Solo
Now it's "who's been here since I been gone?"
A railroad nigger with his sea-boots on,
Chorus
And a hog-eye, etc.

Solo
O Sally in the garden picking peas,
Her golden hair hanging down to her knees,
Chorus
And a hog-eye, etc.

With musical score, pp. 93-94, reprint 1948.

Note by Captain Whall: "This shanty dates from 1849-1850. At that time gold was found in California. There was no road across the continent, and all who rushed to the goldfields (with a few exceptions) went in sailing ships round the Horn, San Francisco being the port they made for. This influx of people and increase of trade brought railroad building to the front; most of the "navvies" were Negroes. But, until the roads were made, there was a great business carried on by water, the chief vehicles being barges, called "hog-eyes." The derivation of the name is unknown to me. The sailor in a new trade was bound to have a new shanty, and this song was the result."