If anybody cares to dig around I seem to remember that there was an article on bawdy and obscene shanties published at at one time -if that's what turns you on. Incongruously enough I think it was in Dance and Song (but I may be way off the beam on this one).
Collector Tom Munnelly (the source of my information about cable pulling) always said that he was surprised that there were no shanties collected in Ireland (not to say that there weren't Irishmen at sea who sang them); but he once recorded a beautiful description from Irish language storyteller Henry Blake of sailing ships going down the Shannon and the sound of the shanties drifting across the water on the night air. Try and get hold of Tom's article, published in Béaloideas entitled Songs of The Sea - a classic.
Jim Carroll