Paul Clayton sings this song for his 1956 album Whaling and Sailing Songs. The theme is similar to Bones in the Ocean. Clayton's liner notes read:
Nothing in shipboard life stirred the whaler's emotions like a burial at sea. A whaling log will contain numerous entries concerning the state of a sick man, and then, one day, a brief note is written giving an account of his burial, perhaps with a cross or coffin drawn in the section normally reserved for whales sighted and taken. I recovered this song from a journal kept on the ship "Lucy Ann", of Wilmington, Delaware, on a whaling voyage out of New Bedford front 1837 to 1839.
Clayton might be referring to John Martin's journal aboard the Lucy Ann, 1841-1844. If there is an earlier journal, it may not be archived at this time. Martin's journal is notable for its ornate watercolor illustrations. It was edited and published in 1959 by the University of Delaware and copies may be purchased from the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The final entry is also notable:
Cursed whaling and quit it. Dam them [who] will not get up after night and burn their shirts to make a light to curse a whaleship.
