Since the comment about the Surprise being a frigate with only 28 guns has come up again I feel it only fair to point out that she was old when Aubrey got her. POB makes the point in the story that the she HAD been a frigate but now was considered too small to be a frigate considering that "modern" frigates generally had many more guns and were larger.

About chanties in the Royal Navy. Charley is right about them being banned. In the books you start to hear about chanties when Aubrey gets part of his crew from a fishing port and the Surprise (and Aubrey) are ostensibly no longer in the Navy. There are a couple of comments about how the men sing while working the lines.