Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Sailor and the Ghost, The [Laws P34A/B]

DESCRIPTION: A pregnant girl hangs herself after being abandoned by her lover. The guilty youth goes to sea to escape her ghost, but the spirit follows and finds him. She threatens the captain until he is produced, and then burns the ship with him aboard
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 10(68))
KEYWORDS: pregnancy abandonment ghost disaster suicide
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Laws P34A, "The Sailor's Tragedy (The Sailor and the Ghost A)"/P34B, "Handsome Harry (The Sailor and the Ghost B)"
Greig #130, pp. 2-3, "The Ghost So Grim" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 341, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Ghost So Grim" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 68, "Handsome Harry" (1 text, identified by Laws as P34B)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 151-154, "The Dreadful Ghost" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 116-117, "The Dreadful Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 398-403, "The Sea Ghost" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 18, "The Sailor's Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 92, "The Sailor's Tragedy" (1 text)
DT 512, DREDGHOS
Roud #568
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 10(68), "The Sailor and the Ghost," Laurie and Whittle (London), 1805; also 2806 c.8(242), "The Sailor and the Ghost"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B)" [Laws K22]
cf. "On One Thursday Evening" (tune, according to GreigDuncan2))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Murdered Girl
The Spirit Grim
File: LP34

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2009 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.