Frederick McQueen was recorded for the album The Real Bahamas in 1966. A. L. Lloyd borrowed the song for the 1974 Topic anthology Sea Shanties. For his 2004 compilation, Sailor Songs & Sea Shanties, the liner notes read:
The tune and most of the words come from the Bahamas, from the singer Frederick McQueen. In the Bahamas it's mostly used for boat-launching, but it serves equally well for capstan work. "Malarkey" here is a mispronunciation of "Malachi".
Some years later, Jim Mageean included the song for a 1978 album. The liner notes claim McQueen was recorded in the 1930s. Indeed, a Frederick McQueen was recorded in 1935 by Alan Lomax singing "Sam [Sand] gone in my cuckoo eye". This track is even included on the Rounders Records compilation Deep River of Song - Bahamas 1935. The Lomax archives are slowly being digitized but so far there is no record of a 1935 recording of Sailboat Malarkey.