> Oh no, cried the captain, that never can be,
We'd better to lose two lives, than we had to lose many.

Why would going back to pick her up risk losing many lives? Because she's a Jonah? Or because the weather has taken a turn for the worse (which the text neglects to mention)?

It's quite a strange song as collected in England. When I put my version together I did in the end allow a hint of the supernatural to intrude, although the website where I posted all my ballad lyrics went down a couple of years ago and I have haven't got around to replacing them.