We tend to treat Sea Shanties Lyrics as being one set of verses and always being sung in a set order.

In real life shanties were mixed about, verses changed. new subject material added based on the shanty singer own experiences, the local whores at the last port, or got the pox, the ships cat or dog name, how well the Mates were regarded, the port the ship sailed from, how drunk the crew was before signing on, etc etc.

These songs were never static, they were constantly envoling, so what we now know as a particular shanty, are in general the most common verses cleaned up and recorded.

Bruce D