Shanty singing as we know it evolved around the 1830s (based simply on earliest references) as a mid-Atlantic phenomenon, and among multi-racial crews. English tends to be the dominant language used because at the time the dominant merchant fleets were American and British. There is strong evidence to suggest that shanty singing evolved from American river songs and slave songs. Many of the shanties have American themes.

I find it incredible that there are still dinosaurs around who believe that you should ONLY sing the songs of your own culture. I thought these ideas died out long ago. It has fascist/racist undertones to me.