Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it turns out that obscenity is in the mind of the listener. Born and raised in the Victorian Era, Sir Richard Runciman Terry along with his uncles, from whom he learned many shanties, were products of their times. Sir Terry wrote of how as a young boy he would encounter those awkward pauses and discomfort as the adults were confronted with his innocence questions regarding some of the content of songs he had heard down at the docks... and how they skirted around giving an answer. From reading his books I get the impression that he really would have liked to just put them down as he had heard them, but knew it would be professional suicide since he was earning his living as a music critic, author, speaker and performer.   But then again, no publisher would ever consider such a project so it really was never an option.