I've been fortunate enough to spend some time at Stuart and Mary's house, and they have a music room/library that is hard to top. Floor to ceiling bookshelves of songbooks, song indexes, and sheet music from the last two centuries... curio cabinets filled with little figurines playing accordions (OK, it's a little weird)... They're both wonderful musicians. And not only did he have this extensive career at the Kendall Whaling Museum, but he previously directed the music program at Mystic Seaport, where he started the sea music festival and symposium that we have all come to know an love. He based it on the Festival of the Sea in San Francisco, where he and Mary first met. His albums on Folkways, are great documents of the sea music revival: Sea Chanties and Forecastle Songs at Mystic Seaport (1978, FW37300), and Songs of Sea and Shore (1980, FW05256).

The pirate songs book is also great. I think there might also be a CD that goes with it. Here's the bibliographic lowdown on it...

Frank, Stuart M. 1998. The Book of Pirate Songs. Sharon, MA.: The Kendall Whaling Museum. (There are 10 copies available on Amazon as we speak).