Sounds like you've come up with some suitable choices for the immediate future.

You may want to consider adapting the nautical poems of Cicely Fox Smith to traditional tunes. Smith was a poet who as a young woman traveled from England to the Pacific Northwest, spent 10 years in the early 1900's talking to sailors along the Victoria waterfront, and composed over 300 poems. Many of her poems in the original form are now posted at the Oldpoetry website: Click here for website

In the UK Danny and Joyce McLeod have recorded many of her poems. Bob Zentz in the States has recorded as many and I have also recorded over a dozen of her poems. You can see and hear samples of my work at this website: click here and search for lyrics!

My first suggestion is try "Shipmates." It's based on Smith's personal experience, has an accessible refrain, and the tune should be a familar traditional one.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble