I appeal to all you brilliant people for help

[derien]

I was reading "The Shanty Book, Part I; Sailor Shanties" a few days (or possibly weeks) ago, and I hit this kind of like a wall...

I have had to camouflage many unprintable expressions, and old sailors will readily recognize where this has been done. Sometimes a whole verse (after the first line) has needed camouflage, and the method adopted is best expressed as follows:
There was a young lady of Gloucester
Who couldn't eat salt with her egg,
And when she sat down
She could never get up,
And so the poor dog had none.

Does anyone have any idea what the hell he means by that?!?