Matthew:
Thanks for the Nancy Bell - interesting parallels with the Banks of Newfoundland; cannibalism, too! It reminded me of an old joke about cannibals who captured a crew of a ship where there were two cooks. Asked how many cooks they should boil for dinner, the cannibal chief answered, 'One of course! Too many cooks will spoil the broth.'

Any ideas as to the tune the Nancy Bell might be sung to? I usually look for a song of a similar rhythmical pattern if I can't find a tune, like Oh my name it is Sam Hall chimney sweep, Ye Jacobites by name, and Admiral Benbow - although sung to different tunes, you can switch them easily. I mean, don't you know a song that might be a tune to the Nancy Bell as well?

And this droop and quaver - a mad idea came to my mind, couldn't Stevenson allude to a typical baroque coda, trill and resolution to the key note? I just wondered if it could be this...

semi-submersible:
I once saw a Chinese documentary your boastful yarn reminds me of, about the Chinese war fleet of the 15th century. They had supply ships as huge as I don't know what - they had crop fields and cattle farms on board. The design of the ships was generally the same as that of the junk, only much much bigger. I'd say, with a consort like this, you could easily handle a 500 hands crew!