I can just see a ship coming in handy in the desert, particularly one that engages in reassuring conversation!  Thanks for that info on Jefferys, John.  The "Allendale" variant spelling goes back a good way, mind; of the references at the Bodleian, 16 are Allandale, 5 are Allendale.  Twee?  To some tastes, maybe, but I've never seen anything wrong with a bit of sentiment from time to time, if it be well expressed.  The song is a wish-fulfilment fantasy of a kind, and can strike quite deep resonances if put over with restraint and conviction.  Allandale is a village in Falkirk, west of Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, incidentally (not really Highland at all).  Allendale, on the other hand, is in Hexhamshire (England).  With respect to Jefferys, I suspect that he didn't know which was which, or where either of them was.

Malcolm