"Right" is too strong a word. What's appropriate for ship-board isn't necessarily appropriate for the concert hall. Irish dance music when played as concert music is often played too fast for dancing. The sailors themselves modified the music when they took songs from the concert hall or the railroad line or wherever and adjusted the pace to suit it to their own work.

Still I can't think of any better way of understanding shanties than by trying to appreciate them as work songs.

T.