Here's a significant but all too brief note about the nature of chanteys before the American Civil War.

On Nov. 17, 1916, the Boston Herald printed a letter from Dr. J. E. Crockett who, as he said, had just turned eighty-three. Crockett notes that when he was a youth at sea, the solos of chanteys "were mostly made up or improvised, mostly as hits on matters pertaining to the ship, officers, and crew."

Unfortunately Crockett gives no examples, but at least he confirms what we might suspect.