Excellent point, Q. "Geographic terms" can be a fairly fluid as applied by sailors, tourists, and even natives. And, Lord knows, one can even argue over the "correct" spelling for hours.

I note that Hugill in the recently published THE BOSUN'S LOCKER, © 2006, p. 220, says in his reintroduction of "Maui" that "...(it) is probably the work of some Bowhead whaleman who had experienced the rigors of the Kamchatka Sea and warmth of the Ship Girls' welcome." On another page of this excellent book, p. 138, Higill says "This song I would place at an earlier date than the booklet (A. L. Lloyd's LEVIATHAN recording) gives (1850). Maui was the Hawaiian island where Lahaina, the greatest 'homeport' of the Bowhead whalers was situated and whalemen were rolling down from the Arctic to this excellent sheltered haven as early as 1820."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble