Marc, I made it a point to ask the same old timer as mentioned above (George Herbert, West Geelong) if there was any harmony when they sung shanties, his response was yes, sometimes it didn't sound like harmony because there were plenty that couldn't carry a tune, but with all the different voices it was harmony. I also asked him recently if concertinas were the norm on board (he plays an english I believe, besides a uke), yes again to this, saying it was better on them in the tropics. Barry