Hugill says in Shanties of the Seven Seas, regarding "Drunken Sailor": "The word 'early' was always pronounced 'earl-eye'. Sailormen liked the sound, as can be seen from his pronunciation of 'California' in Sacramento - 'Californ-eye-O'."

Elsewhere he explains that "seamen always pronounced these soft 'i's' - in songs - as 'eye' eg Rio - 'Rye-o', California - 'Californ-eye-O' etc. Therefore 'Hilo' was sung 'High-low' in the second refrain and the solos, but in the first refrain I feel that I am right in saying that the soft sound was used - 'hee-lo-o-o', in this case it being a sort of yodel aimed at by good singers of shanties." (He also says that while "Hilo" may refer to a port, either in Peru or Hawaii, it was also a general word meaning a jamboree or a dance, and could even be a verb).

It seems that these pronunciations are authentic, but in shanties rather than general speech.