Charley, I don't have access to C. Fox Smith's book A BOOK OF SHANTIES. I would be interested in seeing what she had to say about "sea shanties" and "land shanties". Could you put some of that Introduction up on this thread? Thanks.

Your point on pronunciation is well-taken. And I suspect that even when these work songs were first labeled as "chants" that this was a word/category that was not indigenous to the realm of sea labor. It almost sounds like something from a liturgical context! I suppose that "sea-going work songs" is a bit awkward and I don't want to get bogged down in terminology.   My interest is in how these categorizations may skew our understanding of real differences and how these things evolved.

And of course I am always looking for ways to establish earlier datings for these songs. I think that Gibb's suggestions may point in that direction.