Hi,

There are several versions I've come across that go back to the 1700s if you assume the informant's information is correct- ie they learned it from their gramdmother who learned it from her mother. The dates of the ancestors can be traced through geneology records.

Finding written (published or printed) documentation is tough.

Check out Gale Huntington, Songs the Whalemen Sang (1964). I know The Turkish Lady, (an offshoot of Young Beichan/Lord Bateman) was known in 1768, when it was transcribed into the journal of the whaling ship Two Brothers.

Richie