This version we sing of the song is one of many versions out there.  The melody is very similar to the fife tune of the same name, and both date allegedly to the mid-19th century; certainly with the mention of “Waterloo Dock” this version of the song would not date any earlier than the mid 1830s. Dan Lowrie’s was apparently a popular watering hole and playhouse on Paradise Street.  And to explain for how often I have been asked this question; “A man in the chains for to heave the lead”… The chains is where the shrouds (lines running up from the hull to the masts alongside, rat-lines being the horizontal “ropes” that a sailor stepped on to climb, like rungs on a ladder) were fastened to the hull.  When a sailor would heave the lead affixed on a long line to take soundings as a vessel came towards shore, the best place for him to do this would be in the chains.  This image should help you envision this…

Oh now me lads be of good cheer
For the Irish coast will soon draw near
We’ll set a course for ol’ Cape Clear
Come and get your oats, me son!

Chorus:
Whup jamboree, whup jamboree,
With a long-tailed sailor man comin’ up behind!
Whup jamboree, whup jamboree,
Come an’ get your oats, me son!

For now Cape Clear it is in sight
We’ll be off Holyhead by tomorrow night,
And set our course for the ol’ Rock Light,
Come and get your oats, me son!

Chorus:

And my boys we’re off Holyhead;
No more salt beef, no more weevily bread.
One man in the chains for to heave the lead,
Come and get your oats, me son!

Chorus:

Now we’re round the Fort Perch Rock,
All hammocks lashed and chests all locked.
We’ll haul her into the Waterloo Dock,
Come and get your oats, me son!

{alternative verse}
{Chorus:
Now when we get to the Blackwall docks,
Those pretty young girls come out in flocks,
With short-legged drawers and long tailed frocks,
Come and get your oats, me son!}

Chorus:

Now my lads we are in dock
We’ll be off to Dan Lowrie’s on the spot;
And there we’ll sup a big pint pot,
Come and get your oats, me son!

{alternative verse}
{Chorus:
Well then we’ll walk down Limelight way,
And all the girls will spend our pay,
We’ll not see more `til another day,
Come and get your oats, me son!}

Chorus 2x:

Illustration by George Cruikshank, 1901