I get where you are coming from, but just because something has been done wrong for 150 years hardly makes it right.
Of course there is always the possibility that the song was written by a land lubber. Many sea songs are. For instance:

Call all hands to man the capstan... if all hands are on the capstan, who is manning the sails and the wheel?

another example:
Stan Roger's Rocks of Baccaloo.. in one verse he refers to the wheel, and in another he refers to the tiller. No boat or ship ever had both.
Some poetic license is ok, but glaring mistakes will be noted and commented upon.