There is a reference above (from EBarnacle in 2006!) to the fact that Frank & Anne Warner collected this song. Here is that version that they collected from Lena Bourne Fish of Jeffrey, New Hampshire in 1940.

Ships may come and ships may go,
As long as the sea doth roll.
Each sailor lad just like his dad
He loves the flowing bowl
A trip ashore he does adore
With a girl that's plump and round
When your money's gone, it's the same old song
"Get up, Jack, let John sit down.

Chorus ~
Come along, come along you jolly brave boys
There's lots of grog in the jar
We'll plow the briny ocean
Like the jolly roving tar

When Jack gets in it's then he steers
For some old boarding house.
He's welcomed in with rum and gin,
They feed him on pork souse.
He'll lend and spend and not offend
Till he lies drunk on the ground.
When your money's gone it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack, John sit down.

Chorus

He then will sail aboard some ship
For India or Japan,
In Asia there the ladies fair
All love the sailorman.
He'll go ashore and on a tear
And buy some girl a gown.
When your money's gone it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack, John sit down.

Chorus

When Jack gets old and weather-beat,
Too old to roam about,
In some rum shop they'll let him stop
Till eight bells calls him out.
He'll raise his eyes up to the skies,
Saying, "Boys, we're homeward bound!"
When your money's gone it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack, John sit down.

Chorus

Here is what the Warner book says about Mrs Fish's version:-

Mrs. Fish told us that she learned this song from an old man who used to sail on a whaling ship. It carries the roll and flavour of the sea, and the chorus is designed for rowdy singing.
There is a good version of the song (without a tune) in Lomax's American Ballads and Folk Songs. Lomax says, "This song was sung and written down by John Thomas, a Welsh sailor on the Philadelphia in 1896."
So far as we have been able to discover, it has not been found elsewhere in America. Nor, for that matter, have we heard of its appearing in tradition in the British Isles, although it is no doubt of English origin.

Right, There's a version in Lomax. Is there? Let's scan that for you as well:-

GET   UP,   JACK!   JOHN,   SIT   DOWN!
Oh, the ships will come and the ships will go,
As long as the waves do roll:
The sailor lad, likewise his dad,
He loves the flowing bowl:
A lass ashore we do adore,
One that is plump and round, round, round.
When the money is gone, it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack!   John, sit down!

Chorus:
Singing, Hey! laddie, ho! laddie,
Swing the capstan 'round, 'round, 'round
When the money is gone it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack! John, sit down!

[I] go and take a trip in a man-o'-war
To China or Japan,
In Asia, there are ladies fair
Who love the sailorman.
When Jack and Joe palavers, O,
And buy the girls a gown, gown, gown.
When the money is gone it's the same old song,
Get up, Jack!   John, sit down!


When Jack is ashore he beats his way
Towards some boarding-house:
He's welcome in with his rum and gin,
And he's fed with pork and s[c]ouse:
For he'll spend and spend and never offend,
But he'll lay drunk on the ground, ground, ground,
When my money is gone it's the same old song:
Get up, Jack!   John, sit down!


When Jack is old and weatherbeat,
Too old to roustabout,
In some rum-shop they'll let him stop,
At eight bells he's turned out.
Then he cries, he cries up to the skies:
"I'll soon be homeward bound, bound, bound."
When my money is gone it's the same old song:
Get up, Jack!   John, sit down!