I have to disagree with Dead Horse and RTim here. I guess my main reason would be because I see no grounds to assume that there is something wrong with stringing out like that. I do see how a rhymed couplet would appear to indicate more sophistication or cleverness, but I'm not convinced that it was necessarily better or more authentic.

Come to think of it -- another reason why I think that is because SO MANY of the early collected examples of chanteys have repeated lines. It's unlikely, I think, that this was all uninformed collectors or beggars in the pub.

I guess I'd agree if you stood two chanteymen side by side, one rhyming, one not, and asked "Which one is the better chanteyman?"...and for want of other criteria I'd cede that the master of rhymes was a pro. But to generalize about the one line thing......hmm, I dunno

Gibb