In what reality would every reader equally value every author for all the same reasons?

You may mark me down as a negative. It is a fact of maths I place zero value on folk club revival chantey authenticity. For the student of naval science, it's a clunker. A Regency dance group would be time better spent, but not by much.

If one highly values folk club revival shanties, the results will be different of course.

And Whall has an authorship & original copyright claim in his foreword. He did in fact own the songs that followed as far as the publishing industry goes. Typical for the medium.