What are the idiomatic meaning(s) of "roll/rolling" as used in sea shanties?

Having been caught up in the recent resurgence of interest in sea shanties, I've noticed frequent--and apparently idiomatic--usage of the verb "roll/rolling" in their lyrics.

It appears in such shanties as:

• Roll the Old Chariot (title)
• Rolling Down to Old Maui (title)
• Bound for South Australia ("heave away, you rolling king")
• Sally Brown ("roll and go"; "And we rolled all night, And we rolled all day")
• Where Am I To Go M'Johnnies ("high roll and go")
• Randy-Dandy-O ("roll and go")

Often, it appears to be synonymous with "sailing" or "travelling by ship". However, it seems possible that it also has some other idiomatic meaning, especially in the frequent phrase "roll and go".

What are the meaning(s) of "roll/rolling" as used in sea shanties?

Solution 1:

It describes the motion of a ship:

From the OED:

roll, v.2

**I. To move with a swaying motion, and related senses. ** 1.a. intransitive. Of a vessel: to sway; esp. to rock, often violently, from side to side.

a1325 Pilate (Corpus Cambr.) l. 253 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 706 (MED) Þat body [sc. a ship] rollede vp & doun, icast here & þere Myd weder & tempest of watere, þat echmon hadde fere. [That object (i.e. a ship] rolled up and down thrown hither and thither ...]

2000 M. Kneale Eng. Passengers (2001) xiv. 428 I could feel the whole vessel rolling sharp to larboard, as if some great hand was tugging her over.

1.b. intransitive. Of a vessel: to move along with a swaying motion.In some quots. (esp. in later use) the sense of a swaying motion is less marked, perhaps representing an extended use.

1740 H. Travers tr. Homer Iliad ii. in Misc. Poems & Transl. 255 When wint'ry Winds the Face of Ocean sweep, And the Ship rolls along the stormy Deep.

2002 C. Loebel-Fried Hawaiian Legends of Guardian Spirits iii. 37 Powered by wind, the vessel rolled on toward Hawai'i,..plowing through the dark sea beneath a blue-black sky.