I am no Chanty officionado, in fact, not really sholarly in folk music (as I have had it pointed out several times), I just sing. What I do know about is hard physical graft and the people that do it, cursing, swearing is normal everyday language. It is amazing how a difficult, heavy load can be shifted with a few well directed F**ks. We are, of course, losing this with all the health and safety legislation and mechanical handling aids it is rapidly dissapearing from peoples imagination. So, does it surprise me that bawdy words were sung aboard ships, not at all. As to the sanitised words, I never heard my Father swear until I was twenty and happened to be working on the same building site where he started every sentance with F**king! Even working the pig farm, I then realised that his phrase "Cacking Rats" was to save my 18 year old ears from his far worse repetoire. I think we should ask Charley to re-assemble the songs and restore them to their former glory (I think he is well fitted for the task) put them in the public domain, with an adult content warning, and let the singers decide if they will offend or not. If it isn't done then why collect any original text of anything, why save anything, it is censorship, aren't we all supposed to be grown ups?
Peter