Jon,

Foolishly, I neglected to write music notation when I took notes on the recording in the Mystic Seaport archives. Instead, I wrote it in prose in a way that I cannot now understand! That was in 2014, I think. I was there again in 2022 and listened to part of that recording with only minutes to spare before the archives closed. Either the cassette tape or the Walkman they supplied to listen were on their last leg and, sadly, not much of the tape played correctly and there was no time to address the issue and hear Hugill's performance again. That material needs to be digitized!

Syncopation in solos: YES. I (not that I matter) very frequently syncopate when I'm singing solos. The interesting thing in this case was that the *chorus* was syncopated. Most notably, if I'm reading my notes correctly, the downbeat of the start of the chorus was "empty." This is highly unusual for a halyard song since that time-point is where one must pull and, in "99+%" of halyard chanties, so far as I know, one sings and pulls together at that time.

Compare, as illustration, the similar case of these timber stevedores singing "Pay Me My Money Down" (with singing on the downbeat time-point)
https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/southern-us-1959-and-1960/st-simon
versus the Weavers' arrangement (with the voices "resting" on the downbeat)
https://youtu.be/u_kDzNus__o?si=WmQNqcvnel1WNQQo
The Weavers use their instruments to fill the gap, and, I suppose, the melody rhythm (voices) is supposed to sound jazzy, but according to conventional thinking this would not work for halyard hauling unless (as in hammering songs-- which have a different style/method than chanties) the crew is hauling when not singing.

***
With regards to my cockamamie "Jemima" theory, I should have mentioned that the reason I resurfaced it is because "E" Creighton's sea years accord better with the time that "Old Aunt Jemima" was first popular.