This was a “long haul” chantey, used at the halyards for hoisting up the sails. In the 19th century large numbers of Melano-Polynesians were "recruited" as indentured labourers to work, not only as sailors, but ashore all across the west coast of America from Chile to Canada, as well as in Queensland, Australia. Many were "hired out" by the Hawaiian king. Over 60,000 were recruited in Australia from 1863 on, but most were subsequently deported in 1906-08 under the "White Australia" policy. Those in Canada fared much better, where they were employed by the Hudsons Bay Company, and many inter-married with the Native American population. Many Kanakas were also employed on farms and ranches in the Pacific states of the USA. They were also prominent in all the nineteenth century gold-rushes, jumping ship along with their white shipmates to seek their fortunes ashore. English-speaking sailors often had difficulty pronouncing their names, however, and so called them by the Hawaiian name "Kanakaa", which means "Hawaiian Man". The same word is found only slightly changed in the Maori language of New Zealand as "tangata". I learned this from the singing of The Hardtackers.