...One unnamed source gives that in the days of sail it was a tradition for the fiddle player to sit on the deck of the ship playing "Off She Goes" as the ship departed harbor. [above]

Typical:
“Bring to,” cried the first Lieutenant. “All ready, Sir.’—“Heave round at the capstan, and run the anchor up to the bows.” Away danced the men to the tune of “Off she goes.”
[The Greenwich Hospital, The Literary Gazette, 1824]

See also: Huntington, Gale. William Litten's Fiddle Tunes: 1800 – 1802, Vineyard Haven, Mass.: Hines Point Publishers, 1977