This shanty shares the jubilant homegoing theme of other songs, including the well-known Fare Thee Well. The Roud indices for this family of songs is quite a mess, but the modern lyrics were printed as an English broadside between 1849-1862 (if not earlier). A slightly older version stems from William Upton, writing circa 1790. It is unrelated to the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name.

The name of the port is easily changed to fit a vessel, but the most prominent recorded versions bid adieu to the Liverpool docks or the Blackwall docks (London home of the East India Company).

A supposed reference for this song is the The Universal Songster, but I have been unable to locate it. In volume 3 of the Songster, there is indeed a song titled "Homeward Bound", but (1) only the previous song is attributed to Upton and (2) the lyrics bear little resemblance to the printed broadside which is clearly the source of the shanty recorded by Vaughan Williams and others. Instead, the clear predecessor may be found in The Royal Toast Master: containing many thousands of the best TOASTS Old and New... also The Seaman's Bottle Companion, being a selection of exquisite modern Sea Songs under the title "Outward Bound - The words by Mr. Upton".