Another aspect of shantying that I have oft heard in relation to the RN ban... Sound carries well across water. VERY well. If you are in unfriendly territory (or even in neutral water), you might not want 40 blokes yelling "HUH!" in unison every couple minutes. It'd be rather recognizeable in ways that normal ship creaking and even higher pitched noises like pipes or small drums (that won't carry as far) would not be. Of course, there's no documentation on this that I've ever seen. Just several references that tend to conflict with each other. Apocryphal references, ahoy! M
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