Popeye popularized the song for many people and also the phrase "blow me down with a feather" - an expression of shock. When they were hauling sail the sailors could have been responding with false shock to a yarn spun by the calls of the man who was leading the shanty about what happened to him while he was in Liverpool . Only a guess of course , but it could mean a lot of things including what Jim Lad said about voice tubes , which were around before steam . "About 1780, one captain removed a canvas voice pipe installed by an imaginative midshipman saying he was sure the topmen would "use it for an improper purpose".... wiki