Up until the age of eighteen Joanna Colcord sailed with her father to many distant parts of the world:

1889-1890: Portland(ME)-Buenos Aires-Rosario-Boston
1890-1892: New York-Penang-Singapore-Shanghai-Hong Kong-New York
1894-1895: Portland(ME)-Buenos Aires-Rosario-Boston
1895-1897: New York-Port Elizabeth-Durban-Newcastle(NSW)-Mollendo-Astoria-Portland(OR)-Santa Rosalia-Victoria(BC)-Tacoma
1899-1900: New York-Hong Kong-New York
1900-1901: New York-Hong Kong-New York

According to her brother's introduction in SONGS OF AMERICAN SAILORMEN (1938), Joanna collected the vast majority of her shanties directly from the sailors on her father's ships, and some from her father and some from other retired sailors.

Charley Noble