Harlow describes singing this song at the pumps, though he considers it a windlass shanty, to distract from inclement weather,
... that evening with words that would hardly look well in print. Brooks knew the crew and sang words for their pleasure, while the seas chased us away from our work from time to time.
Our pumps were of the old hand-brake style and like the windlass moved up and down, but without a halfway pause. The stroke was directly up and down with a quick motion. Only one pump worked at a time, which was the farthest from the handles. Chanteys in 2/4 or 6/8 time can be sung at the pumps where the accent falls on the down or up stroke. During the saytime we seldom started a chantey at the pumps; but during the night we sang one after another during the entire watch.