My Ohio grandmother (born about 1885) sang:

Here comes the boat around the bend
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye,
All loaded down with women and men,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye!
Bye, baby, bye-oh,
Bye, baby, bye-oh,
Bye, baby, bye-oh,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye.

She spent her early years traveling with a circus-- her father was the circus band leader-- so I don't know where she learned it, but the circus might have helped spread it.