According to Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman on Bonnet & Shawl, the words are traditional and were put to music by Tim Laycock.
They say in their sleeve notes: "The late Gale Huntingdon of Martha's vineyard USA made a wonderful collection of songs noted in the logbooks of whaling ships, and published them in 'Songs the whalemen sang' The book is not full of raucous sea songs , as you might expect, but of the songs the whalemen took with them to sea, often the popular songs of the day. This one is a sea song, but a gentle song of longing.
hope this info is of use to you
Lucy