> I've found a great traditional version of Gosport from West Virginia collected in 1953.

Thanks for posting this, Richie. I wonder if someone has the book and can add stanza 8.

On thing I notice about this version is that it doesn't come from the Deming-type text; it looks as if it's from the version in version in the Scottish chapbooks and Buchan (or something very similar). The evidence:

1) It has Portmouth, Charles Stewart (including his first name), and something that looks like a corruption of "on board the Bedford" ("Way down that redboat"). Those on their own might point to the Roxburghe-type text as a source. However:

2) The 8 lines starting "She saw her grave dug" are from the Scottish chapbook version (or something very like it). The Roxburghe-type text doesn't have the line about the grave and spade (and the Deming version arranges the lines differently and doesn't have the "worst of all men" / "dead and gone" rhyme, which the chapbook version keeps from the Roxburghe-type text).

As far as I can see the only other US version you have posted that has similar features pointing to the chapbook/Buchan type rather than the Deming type as a source is the one from Maryland (posted on 26 March).