I will be making an effort, now, to take stock of the references up through the 1880s as included here. Because there is so much material now, I will make an effort to summarize (roughly) each decade as I go.

18TH CENTURY (1750s-1790s)

Summary: British and French vessels had a practice of singing or chanting or howling cries to coordinate their labor during certain tasks. This goes back until at least about the 1750s. "Ve'a" and "Voix" (French) are given as tow terms for this in the 1770s-80s. The texts of these cries are not noted. By the 1790s, "chanter" was a French verb referring to the act of these cries, and "chanteur" referred to the lead crier. The French sources give the sense that the practice (though not necessarily the terms) were old and had more recently declined, e.g. under military influence.

From the 1770s, African-American rowing songs are noted in South Carolina (twice) and Guyana. They are improvised, traditional, plaintive.

Here are the listings:

1750s-1760s

- a sort of Song pronounced by one of the number, Europeans/spoke windlass (Falconer 1784)

1775

- Seamen at the windlafs, and on other occafions, fing, that they may all act together, incidental mention in an essay in British journal (GENTLEMAN'S 1775)

- Ve'a…The cry made by failors when they pull or heave together, dictionary entry (Ash 1775)

1777

- singing their plaintive African songs, in cadence with the oars, Georgetown, SC/Black rowing (Watson 1856)

1780

- Voix…The fong employed by failors, as in hauling hoifting, heaving, &c, French-English dictionary (Boyer 1780)

1792

- Chanter…To song…cris de convention, pour donner le signal , de l'instant ou plusieurs hommes employés à une même operation, and Chanteur…Ouvrier qui agissant concurremment avec d'autres, leur donne le signal, par un cri de convention,
French maritime dictionary (1792 Romme)

1790s

- "gnyaam gnyaam row" Demerara River, Georgetown, Guyana/Blacks rowing (Pinckard 1806).

c.1790s-1800s

- canoe-rowing songs, partly traditionary, partly improvised Charleston, SC/Black rowing (as per Grayson)