Apart from lying about all day composing ballads, I would imagine they argued a great deal about the status of the songs. The first harpooner would be lying there, on a coil of rope, making up the "Greenland Whale Fisheries". He would deliver this latest offering, and say "Hey, that's a pretty good folksong I've come up with, I reckon, shipmates". And the second harpooner would reply "Not yet, I think. We will have to wait till it is accepted into the tradition before we can accord it that status. A good song, maybe, I'll grant you that, Quohog, but a folksong? I think it might become one, but not yet".And so the age old argument would start again, till a timely cry of "Thar She Breaches" from the crosstrees puts an end to another interesting chat.