The later version Leave Her, Johnnies or as some sang it Leave Her, Bullies was sometimes sung during the voyage - at the pumps - but its better-known function was that of airing grievances just prior to the completion of the voyage either when warping the vessal in through the locks or at the final spell of the pumps (in wooden ships) after the vessal had docked. Many unprintable stanzas were sung, directed at the afterguard, the grub, and the owners. Bullen writes that 'to sing it before the last day or so was almost tantamount to mutiny.' C Sharp sees a resemblance in the tune to the old folk-song from Somerset I'm Seventeen Come Sunday and he also believes it to have hymn connections; and Doerflinger notes that it is like the ballad called the Two Sisters.