If shanty collector's did not exist, we would not be discussing their influence, good or bad. Seems obvious no? OP's complaint is that 'purist' consumers of Kennedy, Hugill &c output would turn shanties into 'Victorian' parlor songs, or whatevs.

But I seriously doubt any two working sailors ever debated Hugill-v-reality whilst at task. And, if OP ever sang a shanty in their lifetime, it was a forebitter. The sort of parlor piece reproduction the complaint is about.

Look around you... listen. What do you see and hear? Work gangs of sailors making rhythmic sounds as they go about tasks in unison? Not me! I'm getting folk club singers, TikToks, video games and maritime museum docents... singing from books... or whatevs.

Me? I blame the working maritime industry for becoming museum pieces in the first place…not the collectors, but that's just my personal perspective on the typical muck, gold and brass of musical alchemy.

The pseudo-scientific maritime history song collectors and folk club singers might put up in between the contemporary forebitter is a different discussion. Hugill was no historian. He was a song collector.