Strange - someone sang this at Swanage on Saturday and I was struck then by the incongruity.

OK I'm a sailor and have used shanties in ernest - and other places too -

Square rigged sails hang from yards or rather from - no that is too technical - they hang from yards - the wooden or metal cross pieces.

Masts stand almost vertically up from the deck or keel and they have attachment points from which yards hang horisontally.

In very light breezes it is (economically) necessary to spread as much canvas as possible, so the stuns'ls are set on yards which are extensions of the ordinary ones. They can be clipped on, or be attached to rings, or with metal yards they can be pulled out from inside the hollow tubes. They are fixed in place after the sail has been fastened on, and run out. They and their suports are are too flimsy for someone to deploy the sail after the yard is extended.

So it should be stuns'l yards not booms.

Anne