It is most likely based on the ship Polynia, built in 1861, of the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company fleet.
Polynia was commanded by Captain William Guy from 1883 to 1891, when she was sunk by ice in Davis Strait.
Art Jackman, Mullins, and Fairweather were captains of the ships at that time.
There are a number of recordings of this song available, including: The Aurora was built in 1876, and was a whaling ship until 1910, when it was bought by Douglas Mawson for a scientific expedition to Antarctica from 1911 to 1914.
She returned to the Newfoundland seal fishery from 1913, until 1943, when she sank off the coast of Greenland.