Well I'm not going to type out all six long verses in support of my contention that the Oxford Book "Ship in Distress" (#69) in the Oxford Book is in fact a "Ship in Distress" and not a "Mermaid" but if you do think it is, then perhaps you could give us a couple of lines from your version that make the point. Joe appears to share my opinion, so we seem to be ganging up on you :-)

But for starters there's no mermaid, nobody up speaks, and the ship doesn't sink.

I wasn't really trying to be too argumentative about "more traditional" - it just struck me as akin to "more unique" in the sense that it can't really be quantified that way. I would accept that it might be more traditional-sounding. To some ears anyway. And the Oxford "Ship in Distress" is indeed a very nice version of that song. I hope to hear you sing it someday.