In most of the versions collected from oral sources, the song opens up giving a date for the events that it describes (usually between 1823 and 1853). However, the song is actually older than this and a form of it was published as a ballad before 1725. Other whaling songs in this section are:     "Bonny Ship the Diamond"     "Blow, Ye Winds"     "Rolling Down to Old Maui" It was recorded by Theodore Bikel, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Pogues, The Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary. I learned this first from The Burl Ives Songbook and later from Lomax's Folk Songs of North America.