From Whall, p. 30:

"One word as to the way in which these songs were sung. They, an all like ditties, had a regulation pronunciation which has quite gone out. I give the first verse phrased as an old sailor would have sung it:

O come list a-whidle adnd you soodn shadll hear;
By the rodling sea lived a maiden fair
Her father followed the sum-muggling trade
like a wardlike hero,
Like a wardlike hero that never was aff-er-aid."

This is from his notes on "The Female Smuggler," p. 30 in my copy.

I think this fits well with the concept of the old sailors being a nation apart with their own patois. He doesn't weigh in on the "rio/rye-" issue, only giving an explanation of U.S. Thanksgiving day for his British audience.