This refreshed thread just caught my eye and reminded me of an old book I have. It's called The Great White South, and was written by Hertbert G Ponting, the photgrapher who accompanied Scott to the Antarctic in 1910-13. It's a first-hand account of the expedition.

They apparently sang on the sea voyage southwards. In a passage of the book with the running header "About Chanties", several songs are mentioned and some of the words given. They include Sally Brown, A-Roving', Rio Grande and Ranzo. The author describes how they used them as call-and-response work-songs.

He concludes that section;

"Sailors dearly love these old songs of the sea, as well they may, for when using under such circumstances as the present, there is a simple grandeur about them that is really stirring. They are known only by seamen of merchant sailing-vessels, as there is no occasion for their use in steamships."

Marje