Really a fabulous discovery, Gibb.

>they work & sing with all their might & whither hoisting hauling – rowing – or heaving at the Jack screw, they keep perfect time in all their motions – this gives them more force as they are united & simultaneous in the exertion.

This is one of the best brief descriptions of shantying I've seen, as well as the earliest by far. The whole passage suggests a well-developed shantying tradition in the Charleston area by 1815, 25 years after the rowing songs of 1790.

It suggests to me that the influence of the increased size of sailing vessels after 1812, while significant, may have been less critical in the development of shanties than has been supposed. The tradition was already there, at least in South Carolina, and the bigger ships and increased commerce merely gave it the opportunity to spread out.

As far as we know.