Lighter-

Exactly!

It's the same with "Coal Black Rose" and any number of other shanties which can be traced to field songs or minstrel songs.

"The words" of any shanty, beyond the first verse and chorus, were generally just a snapshot what a shantyman happened to be singing. It's only be cause we've learned them, generally, from the printed page that we assume the lyrics were uniform for any one song.

Even the melody, as Bob Walser has documented, generally varies after the first verse and chorus.

Charley Noble