From the capstan shanty "Eliza Lee" as sung by Johnny Collins I reckon "clear away the track..." us a plea from the men sweatng at the capstan-bars warping their ship into dock for the dockers to clear junk lying on the railway tracks alongside the dock to allow the locomotive to do the hauling instead of them.
We know a bulgine is a steam loco especially in naval parlance and these were used to haul ships in and out of dock like the "mules" on the Panama canal.
It would only be natural that sailors put to work when there is a machine available to ease their labours would sing lustily to remind the powers that be of the errors of their ways.