‘Oh, Ranzo was no sailor, Ranzo, boys, ranzo, But he shipped on board of a whaler, Ranzo, boys, ranzo.’"
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N.Y. Times (Dec. 9, 1883):
"He remembers the forecastle legend of Capt. Ranzo, which has been handed down from generation to generation of seamen in a rough song, the chorus of which is 'Ranzo, boys, Eanzo.' According to this song, Ranzo, when a mild and virtuous youth, shipped on board a whaler when under the influence of gin, secretly administered to him by a bold, bad boarding-house keeper. The mate of the whaler, in whose character the ferocity of the tropical tiger seems to have been united with the sourness of the polar bear, ordered Ranzo to perform the duties of an able seaman. Finding the youth unequal to the task, the cruel man ordered the removal of his upper garments and tickled his back three-and-twenty times with a cat-o'-nine-tails. The Captain, who appears to have been a sort of floating angel, was blessed with a beautiful daughter, who heard of Ranzo's ill-treatment. She induced her father to investigate the matter. He found the mate in the wrong and promptly knocked him down with an iron belaying-pin. Ranzo was then invited to make the cabin his head-quarters, and he was instructed by the Captain in the mysteries of navigation. In the concluding verse of the song, Ranzo married the daughter of the Captain, who then retired, leaving his son-in-law to carry on the old business at the old stand. Many a young seaman his striven to emulate the example of Capt. Ranzo, and some of them have succeeded."
(We needn't take every detail seriously, but the incidents of the gin and the iron belaying-pin may once have been part of one text of the song.)